A New Situation
by herzog
Summary: Ziva's best friend dies leaving Ziva with her two children and evil husband to deal with so she turns to Tony for help.
1. Chapter 1

"So has Hannah decided how long she is going to be staying with you then?" Tony asked as he and Ziva drove back to NCIS after following up a lead which lead nowhere.

"No, she has no definite plans." Ziva replied absently as she stared out of the window.

"But you said that she had her girls enrolled in schools and stuff, so I guess that means she's here for a while right?"

"Well yes I suppose so,"

"In your apartment? With you? And her kids?"

"She's my best friend, if her and her daughters need to live with me for a while they are more than welcome-she can stay as long as she wants, what is wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing it's just that, I dunno-you with a girlfriend? It just doesn't seem right." Ziva chuckled lightly,

"What, you think all my friends are scary spies or intimidating soldiers?"

"No, I just didn't think you had any friends," Tony snorted at his own joke,

"Tony!" Ziva slapped his arm in annoyance,

"Hey, woah would you be careful? In case you hadn't noticed I'm driving!" Ziva raised an eyebrow,

"Oh really? We seem to be in exactly the same spot as we were five minutes ago, if I were driving we would already be back by now."

"Ok ,first of all that's a wild exaggeration, we were right way back there five minutes ago and would you look at this traffic? It's not my fault!"

"Hmmm we would still be back by now if you had let me drive," she muttered,

"Yeah back in the morgue," he retorted childishly which was followed by a few moments of silence before he returned to his original conversation topic. "So if her kids are all set up here why isn't she looking for a new place, must be pretty cramped at yours."

"We are managing fine,"

"Really? So I guess you two are sharing a bed huh?" he asked, suggestively.

" yes Hannah and I sleep in my bed and the girls on the sofa bed," she replied innocently, oblivious to his innuendo until she looked up and saw his expression. Her face changed to a sensual smile, she twisted in her seat ant leant towards him placing one hand on his thigh, pushing herself up until her mouth was at his ear, "And sometimes, if it is cold, we lie very, very close so we can heat each other up," her hot breath was prickling his ear and brushing through his hair as he carefully concentrated on the slow moving traffic ahead, "And sometimes we talk about things"

"Things?"

"Mmmmm, the people we," she paused, "like" he swallowed nervously, "She likes it when I talk about my partner, how handsome he is and," she moved even closer to his ear, until her lips were practically touching it, "how much I _want_ _him_" she whispered huskily. Tony struggled to keep his composure, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, he felt sweat forming on his palms, forehead, back, basically everywhere; borne out of the effort it took to control himself at that moment,

"Really," his voice came out high pitched and squeaky,

"No!" Ziva snorted loudly, slapping the back of his head as she slumped back into her seat laughing, Tony quickly wiped the disappointment from his face,

"Ziva, you shouldn't distract me when I'm driving," he mumbled sulkily,

"You started it! You always start these conversations it but you can never finish them!" she replied leaning against the headrest. Another short silence followed as Tony tried to return his blood pressure to normal, pre-Ziva's breath against his skin, levels. It took a while.

Eventually his phone rang, breaking the silence. He answered it and McGee told him that the missing marine had been holed up with his girlfriend off-base for the weekend,

"Want me to just drop you off on the way? Not much else to do today, Ooooh I could come in and meet this gal pal of yours!" Ziva tensed instantly, sitting bolt upright,

"No!" she relaxed slightly and lowered her voice, "No I do not think that would be a very good idea," Tony looked round at her, taken aback by her reaction. He broke the moment of tense silence,

"Geee, are you really that embarrassed by me? C'mon, I promise I'll be on my best behaviour!"

"It is not you I am worried about," she sighed and closed her eyes, "Hannah, is not very . . .well at the moment."

"She's ill?"

"Well, not exactly," she sighed again, "Hannah is depressed, very depressed" Tony turned to look at her questioningly,

"What like depressed like oh man the TV's broken and it's raining or like DEPRESSED,"

"The doctor gave her pills," she said in reply,

"Oh" he licked his lips, unsure of what to say next, "Are they, are they making a difference?" Ziva looked down at her lap, shaking her head gently,

"They just make her sleep a lot I think." she rubbed her forehead with a her hand, "I have never known her like this, it is bad. It is bad for the girls to see her like this, it is bad for her to be like this but I . . . I . . . do not know what to do, how to help her." she swallowed, "It is like she is here but not here, she is in her own world where I cannot reach her, she is trying to get better I know she is but every time she comes close to getting better she just slips back again." she turned her face to look out the window so she didn't have to see the way Tony was looking at her. And so he wouldn't see the way she was looking too, "I do not know what to do," she sighed again. Tony ran his eyes over the back over head and down to her clenched fists resting on her knees,

"Ziva," she didn't respond so he reached out his hand, gently encapsulating a tense fist, "Ziva, you are doing everything you can. She is lucky to have a friend like you, one that's willing to take in her family and her and look after them" he squeezed her hand comfortingly,

"Why me? I do not know what I am doing, people always say I am cold and emotionless, she should have gone to someone more caring. I am out of my length!" He suppressed a smile and continued,

"She came to you because you're her best friend, she'll get better in her own time, you just need to be there for her, show her that you care." he ran his thumb over her knuckles lightly, before whispering, "you are much more than you give yourself credit for Ziva," she smiled and relaxed her hand, allowing her fingers to uncurl and slip around Tony's, pressing her lips together. For a moment, silence enveloped the car until she quietly said, "Well, that was very, deep Tony," he smiled and squeezed her hand again,

"Well what can I say? I watch _a lot_ of Dr Phil," Ziva looked up at him,

"Dr Phil? Is that one of your movies?" he removed his hand from hers and waved it round in the air,

"What? No! It's a TV show, y'know Dr Phil solves every ones problems," she looked at him blankly, " You know maybe you should watch some more American TV, I think it would improve your English and understanding of our culture"

"There is nothing wrong with my English!" she retorted,

"What? Y' know what I bet you're right! I swear you just do it to annoy me!"

"Do what?"

"Say stuff wrong, never using contractions, for example "there's nothing wrong with my English" not there is and it's out of my _depth_ not out of my length!" Ziva frowned,

"I know, that is what I said" she replied,

"That's! That's!" Tony exclaimed in frustration, Ziva chuckled at him,

"I am sure that I will assimilate some time Tony do not worry!"

"Well maybe if you spent a little more time watching DR Phil and a little less time running round like a crazy ninja spy it would happen a hell of a lot faster!" she laughed again,

"Ok alright Tony I will watch some of this DR if it will keep you happy,"

"Good, now do you want dropped off at yours cause we are almost there or are you coming back to the office?"

"No, just drop me off, I can get an early start on making dinner before Leora gets in from school," she replied, sounding pleased with herself. He gave her a sideways look,

"What?" she asked defensively,

"nothing nothing, just never thought I would hear you sound so domesticated ," she smiled slightly and sighed,

"Well sometimes you have to make changes in your life to adapt to new situations,"


	2. Chapter 2

-1As they turned into her street they saw a crowd of people standing on the pavement, they staring upwards,

"What the . . ." Tony started but then saw that smoke was billowing out of the windows of Ziva's apartment in thick ominous plumes. When Ziva saw it her blood ran cold through her veins and her stomach clenched in fear. She had leapt out of the car before Tony even had a chance to stop completely and was barrelling trough the crowd towards the door,

"Ziva!" Tony yelled as he jumped out of the car in time to see her disappear into the building, "Ziva wait!" he set off after her, pushing people aside indiscriminately as he went. He threw himself up the stairs two at a time, thin wisps of smoke became thicker as he climbed higher. He reached her door which was hanging off its hinges where Ziva had ferociously kicked it down. "Ziva!" He shouted as he entered her apartment, "Where are you?" he couldn't see more than a foot in front of him, hot smoke attacked his eyes causing tears to stream down his cheeks as he fought through the clouds. HE could hear the sound of a little girl crying uncontrollably somewhere inside the flat,

"Tony!" Ziva shouted to him and he followed the direction of her voice towards the kitchen, he could just about make out Ziva crouched on the floor, in the process of hauling the limp body of her friend into her arms while the weeping girl huddled close, choking on the smoke. Tony grabbed Hannah from her and turned back to the door, Ziva snatched the girl up and followed closely behind him. They ran down the stairs and burst out into the street, gulping in the clean fresh air into their choking lungs. Tony laid the woman in the ground and began checking for a pulse, he couldn't find one and was about to tell Ziva when she pushed him out of the way to check for herself. "No, no, no, no," she groaned quietly and began performing CPR on her lifeless friend.

"Ziva" he whispered, trying to place a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged him off, determinedly pumping on Hannah's chest. He sighed and then noticed the little girl was crawling towards her mother, whimpering quietly, he quickly scooped her up so she wouldn't get in Ziva's way. He looked down at her, she was stained black with smoke, with several clear trails where her tears had ran down her cheeks. She was no longer sobbing loudly and was now quietly snuffling, he took a tissue from his pocket and used it to gently wipe her face off a bit, smearing off the worst of the soot until her face was an unhealthy grey colour. She looked up at him, big brown eyes glistening with tears before turning her back to look at her mother on the ground, "Ima" she whimpered quietly before snapping her head back round and looking hopefully up at Tony. He Didn't know what else to do so he squeezed his arms around her a little tighter and, hopefully, more comfortingly. It seemed to work as the girl slumped slightly against him, resting her head against his chest with one little fist gripping his shirt firmly. His eyes moved to Ziva who had given up and was kneeling on the ground next to Hannah, slowly stroking her hair. The crowd of people watching were silent and he could hear the approaching sirens, he moved towards her slowly,

"Ziva?" she didn't respond, he stood behind her and looked down at Hannah, her eyes were dull, staring blankly at the sky which was blotted with the dark clouds which had taken her life. The little girl shifted in Tony's arms, "Zizi" she said plaintively, holding out her hands to Ziva who sighed and gently moved her hand across Hannah's eyes; closing them forever. She stood up and took the little girl from Tony, wrapping her tightly in her arms and whispering softly. Tony raised his hand and stroked the back of Ziva's head, she turned to glance at him and shook her head slightly before pressing it against the girl's neck.

A fire engine and an ambulance came screeching round the corner and skidded to a halt in front of the burning building. Firemen came streaming out, one ran over to them,

"Sir did you come out of the fire?" Tony nodded, "Do you know if anyone else is still in there?" he shook his head,

"No, there's no one else." the fire man nodded his head as a paramedic arrived and knelt down beside Hannah,

"You are too late," Ziva said quietly as he began checking for a pulse, "She is dead already" he sighed and stood up, turning his attention to them.

"I'm sorry mam, what about you are you ok? How long were you in the building for?"

"Not long, but Zipporah was," she indicated towards the little girl. The paramedic turned to the girl, smiling reassuringly,

"Zipporah, that's a very pretty name, my name's Dan and I' m going to check you're ok, that alright sweetheart?" she looked up at him uncertainly before slowly moving her hand to her chest and quietly repeating,

"Zipporah," Dan the paramedic looked slightly confused,

"She has not been here long her English is not good," Ziva explained quickly,

"Oh right, well if you could just take her over to he ambulance and I'll have a look at her there ok?" Ziva nodded and followed him, carefully avoiding looking at Hannah lying on the ground leaving Tony standing alone next to the body. He suddenly felt out of place, without the security of his NCIS jacket and kit he was uncomfortable under the scrutinising gaze of the onlookers. Their morbid fascination seemed a lot more gruesome when you were involved in the scene, he began to sidle away from Hannah and her observers towards the ambulance. He was almost there when he noticed a young girl, about fourteen or fifteen come round the corner, ambling carelessly along listening to an mp3 player, until she looked up and saw the chaos ahead. Her eyes darted from the fire to the crowd to the ambulance where her eyes settled on the little girl, her face dropped and faded to a horrifying shade of white ,

"ZIPPORAH!" she screamed, the books she was carrying and sprinting towards the ambulance. Ziva opened her mouth to say something but before she had a chance the teenager was already cupping Zipporah's face in her hand and stroking her hair, asking a million questions a minute, oblivious to anything else around her. Ziva kept trying to get a word in but when that failed grabbed the girl's face in her hands,

"Leora!" she said forcibly to the girl who then stepped back from her sister and turned to look at Ziva, an irritated expression on her face. Ziva began to whisper to her but the girl could see over her shoulder, to her mother's body lying unceremoniously on the ground. She gasped, her knees buckling slightly forcing Ziva to catch her by the elbows to keep her standing. Tony watched her gasp for air, face frozen in horror before she screamed and pushed Ziva aside running to her mother. She flung herself onto the pavement and began slapping Hannah's face,

"IMA! IMA!!" she was shrieking and crying, shaking her mother roughly trying to exert a sign of life from her. Ziva stood behind her as she let out a defeated sob and buried her face in Hannah's tummy, weeping uncontrollably. Ziva dropped down next to her, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her gently away, rocking her back and forth. The girl grasped desperately at her, gripping Ziva tightly, sobbing against her chest, Ziva was crying now, fat tears streaming down her cheeks. She moved her hands to the Leora's face, pulling it away from her but holding it gently in front of her own. She was trying to say something but couldn't get it out between her own sobs. Leora was shaking her head, her face contorted and soaked with tears and snot which Ziva tried to wipe away before pulling her back, letting Leora bury her face in her neck while Ziva wept against her shoulder. Tony was watching them rock each other back and forth when he heard another voice join the chorus of crying. He turned to see Zipporah weeping at the sight of her sister's and Ziva's distress, wiping her own tears aside as the paramedic straightened up and patted her uncertainly on the head. Tony walked up behind him as Dan turned round.

"She seems ok but she should probably come to the hospital to make sure, I'll call out another ambulance if you want cause you know, well we need to take _the body,_ he whispered, indicating towards Hannah."

"No it's fine, we'll manage." Tony replied, staring down at the girl, he stepped towards her and instinctively picked her up. She continued to cry but after a few seconds slipped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. After a while her breaths seemed to even out slightly and Tony returned his gaze to Ziva and Hannah. They were still collapsed on the ground, unable to stand due to their sobbing. He began move around to the other side of the ambulance, he reasoned it was to spare Zipporah the sight of their distress but really, it was him that couldn't bare to Ziva so devastated. He had never seen her drop a single tear, she always seemed so strong-to see her so completely destroyed broke his heart. He didn't know what to do to help her so he squeezed Zipporah tighter and stroked her back gently, in the hope that by looking after the little girl was at least helping a little bit.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony paced back and forth for sometime, long enough for Zipporah to loosen her grip on him and relax slightly, slumping against him. He was about to peer around the ambulance to see what was going on when Ziva appeared, gripping Leora's hand tightly.

"They," she paused and sucked in a breath, struggling to regain some composure, "They are taking her away now." Tony didn't know what to say so he just nodded. "What did the paramedic say about Zipporah?" the girls head popped up at the sound of her name,

"Uhm that she's fine but that we should maybe take her to the hospital anyway," Ziva nodded,

"She said that she was in my room having a nap, she was not in the smoke for much longer than us." she sighed heavily, "Will you drive us to the hospital, my car keys, all my stuff is, is in there" she gestured towards the building.

"of course," he whispered, shocked she even had to ask, she nodded again and looked up at Zipporah who had been quietly observing the conversation she couldn't understand. Now she was watching her sister who was staring at the ground crying quietly.

"Leo," Zipporah reached out her arms to Leora who silently took her from Tony, wrapping her own arms tightly around her. Tony and Ziva watched them silently until Ziva abruptly spun around and headed towards the car , Leora followed her with Tony trailed behind them.

After an uncomfortably silent car journey they arrived at the hospital, they all sat down in the waiting room. A few moments later Tony excused himself to go to the bathroom-keen to escape the uncomfortable atmosphere for a little while. Catching sight of himself in the mirror he was surprised-he hadn't realised how dirty the short time he had spent in the fire had made him. His face was streaked with soot so he started to carefully wash it off. When he was as clean as he could get using a toilet sink he wandered back through to the waiting room where he saw Leora sitting alone, staring blankly into space. He stopped at a coffee machine on his way, he didn't hold out much hope for a decent cup of coffee he was mainly trying to delay the inevitable moment when he would have to go back and sit alone with the grieving girl. Comforting Zipporah was easy in comparison-all he had to do was lift her into his arms and hold her tight for a while but what the hell was he meant to say to a teenager who had just lost her mother? He slowly crossed the room towards her and then cleared his throat,

"Uh, I didn't know if you were thirsty or no or what you would like so I got you a hot chocolate just in case," she fixed her blood shot eyes on him and smiled slightly, "I'll just put it down here to cool a little then," he placed in on the table in front of her, "Oh unless you want something else, I'll go get something else if you don't like it." she shook her head,

"I like it,"

"Oh, ok then," he stood uncomfortably for a second, sipping from his cup of brown water, he had been right not to expect miracles from the machine, "Uh Leora," he started, trying to think of something comforting to say but he failed, "I'm getting something to eat. Want a chocolate bar? I'm going for a chocolate bar, where's the machine?" he spun round, searching for another vending machine, "Oh right there, sure you don't want anything," he asked, already backing away slightly. She stood up suddenly,

"No I am fine, but uh thanks for the chocolate," she met his eyes before reaching for her cup,

"No problem," he impulsively leant forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, "and I'm sorry about your mum." Leora froze under his touch and spun to face him, she had carefully been trying to regain some composure, embarrassed by the stares her weeping had been attracting from the others in the waiting room but when you are struggling with the pain of grief the smallest gesture from the most casual of acquaintance can be enough to destroy your defences leaving the pain to flood through you again. She suddenly began sobbing uncontrollably again and stumbled towards him caught off guard he staggered back a step before tentatively wrapping one of his arms around her shoulder, the other still holding his coffee which was now sloshing dangerously around. He carefully leant over to the side, placing his cup down and then moved his other arm round behind her too, gently and unsurely patting her back. They stood like that until Ziva and Zipporah returned, Ziva hurried across the room when she heard Leora's wild sobs and saw Tony's panicked expression. She ran her hand across the side of Leora's face until she turned round and moved into Ziva's waiting arms leaving Tony with a large wet patch on the front of his shirt. He flopped down into one of the uncomfortable moulded plastic chairs and Zipporah clambered up next to him, shuffling right back into the seat with her little legs sticking straight out over the edge. He leant across to the table to retrieve his coffee and gulped down a mouthful, watching as Ziva calmed Leora down a bit. By the time he had finished his cup Leora had was able to sit down next to her sister who then climbed onto her, straddling her knees and facing her. She reached up and traced the tears on Leora's face with her little fingers, mumbling quietly. He stood up next to Ziva who was watching them, she sighed and rubbed her forehead,

"WE better go, I need to find somewhere for us to stay tonight." Tony stared at her in shock,

"What? You can stay with me!" she tuned to look at him,

"Really?"

"_of course_," he said in disbelief, "what, did you think I would just drop you off at the nearest motel?"

"Well no, but, you have room space for us all?"

"Sure-there's a sofa bed in my study and . . ." she raised her eyebrow at him,

"_Study? All I saw was a room full of DVDs an a large TV,"_

"_Yeah well that's what I like to study, what's your point?" she smiled half heartedly at him,_

"_Anyway you can have my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa, see, plenty or room for everyone," he rubbed her shoulder reassuringly and she impulsively spun round and flung her arms around his neck and whispered, "Thank you Tony," and then leaned back, "I do not know what I would have done today without you." _

"_You don't have to thank me," he said taken aback by her sudden hug, "Let's go then ok?"_


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, just to make it clear that when Ziva and Zipporah are talking and it's written in italics means it's in hebrew!

**

* * *

**

Tony was rummaging through his drawers when Ziva appeared in the doorway, her face was drawn and pallid. She crossed to the bed and flopped down.

"They fell asleep."

"Well, they must be tired it's been a traumatic day." even as he spoke he felt it was a stupid thing to say, well unhelpful at least. Ziva nodded slowly before turning and crawling up to the head of the bed and slipped under the duvet, sighing deeply. He closed the drawer and went into his unsuited to changed into his pyjamas. When he came back out she hadn't moved at all she was just lying staring at the ceiling,

"Well, I guess I'll go then," he dropped his clothes over the back of a chair and headed towards the door, "Night," he was about to shut it after him when he heard Ziva called his name, he turned back,

"yeah?"

"You do not have to sleep on the sofa, there is plenty of room for you here." she was sitting up staring at him with wide eyes still slightly swollen and red.

"uh are you sure?" he said uncertainly, "Yes," she said empathically before lying back down facing the wall. He carefully stretched out on his side of the bed,

"Mind if I turn off the light?"

"No," he switched off the lamp, leaving them in the inky blue dark. Tony folded his arms across his chest, he really, really didn't know what to do. An upset woman was one thing, normally she would admit she was devastated or would look for comfort giving some indication of what he should be doing to make it better. Not Ziva though, she was strong and stubborn, not used to needing someone else. He knew it was up to him to go to her, she would probably never come to him for comfort,

"Ziva. Are you ok?"

"I am fine," it was the answer he was expecting, he sighed and rolled over slightly and reached out, wrapping an arm around her and dragging her across the bed towards him.

"You don't always have to be fine Ziva," he slid his arm further around her and pulled her closer, she remained tense and rigid against him for a few seconds,

"I am FINE," She insisted, remaining motionless

"Ziva come on . .."he started but before he could continue she suddenly spun round to face him, pressing her face against his neck and ran her hand across his chest, grabbing a handful of his t-shirt gripping it tightly. He leant back slightly, pulling her with him allowing him to slip his other arm underneath her, placing his hand on the back of her head where he could gently stroke her hair. Neither said anything but he could feel her warm tears slipping from her eyes leaving a growing wet patch at the crook of his neck. A quiet sob escaped and rippled through her body, he squeezed her.

"I'm sorry Ziva, I'm so sorry," he felt his own emotions churning when faced with such naked hurt in Ziva, he buried his face in her hair, trying to compose himself. They lay quietly for a while, the only sound was an occasional sniffle, muffled by his skin. He didn't know what to say to her, he assumed that she probably didn't want to talk while she was so upset; drawing attention to her vulnerability. She hiccupped against him, sitting up wiping her face with her hand, "Sorry," she moved to dry her tears from his neck. He chuckled slightly, cupping her cheek in his hand.

"Ziva, it's fine, c'mon," he pulled her back down, holding her even tighter than before. She gulped in a fractured breath and then snaked an arm back across his chest, Tony turned and kissed her hair gently eliciting a deep sigh. Another silence descended upon them until they heard the door creak open, Ziva sat up instantly hurridly brushing away her tears, a small silhouette stood in the doorway.

"Zizi?" little voice tentatively asked, Tony turned the lamp back on as Ziva asked,

"Zipporah?_ What's wrong?"_

"_Leo's sleeping, and she kicking me,"_ she whined,

"_Well, come here then, we promise we won't kick you,"_ Zipporah scampered forward and clambered onto the bed. Ziva lay back down and Zipporah rolled over her and snuggled into the space between the two of them, elbowing and kneeing them awkwardly. Zipporah sighed deeply and turned to face Ziva,

"_Leo very sad,"_

"_I know,"_

"_You sad too."_

"_Yes"_

"_Is mummy sad too?"_ Ziva furrowed her brows slightly,

"_uhm, yes. . . She is sad because she misses you,"_

"_When's she coming back?"_ Ziva's stomach sank,

"_What?"_

"_When's mummy coming back? I think it would make Leo happy again,"_

"_Zipporah, mummy's with your Grandma and Granddad remember?" _Ziva said softly,

"_Yes I know,"_ Zipporah rolled her eyes,_ "You said mummy is dead and she with Grandma and Granddad, but when does she stop being dead and come home?" _Zipporah looked at her, eyes wide in anticipation. Ziva had of course realised that Zipporah hadn't quite grasped the concept of her mother being dead but she hadn't realised just how confused she was.

"_Uh, she, she isn't coming back"_ she rolled onto her side and reached out to stroke the girl's hair gently, _"She needs to stay with them now" _Zipporah's face dropped,

"_Why?"_

"_Because, because she was badly, badly hurt and now she needs her mummy to look after her."_ Zipporah's lip quivered, "_But, I need mummy to look after me,"_

"_I know sweetheart, your mummy looked after me too but she had to go,"_

"_Forever and ever?_

"_Yes," _Zipporah whimpered loudly, causing Ziva to hastily backtrack,

"_Well not exactly forever and ever; one day you'll see her again. But not for a long, long, long, long time. Not until you're very old."_

"_When I'm dead too?" _Zipporah asked earnestly,

"_Ehm, yes. But that won't be for a long, long time ok?" _the little girl nodded sadly and flopped down onto her back, deep in thought, allowing a short lull in the questions before she resumed her inquiries,

"_What's mummy going to do for aaaaallll that time? What's she doing right now? Won't she get bored?_

"_No she won't get bored, now she can do anything she wants! But right now she's watching over you and Leora, she's worried that you are too sad just now."_

"_I can't help it, I miss her!" Zipporah complained,_

"_I know but when you're sad and crying it makes mummy sad too, she wants you to be happy,"_

"_She doesn't want me to cry?" Ziva shook her head, "ok, I won't then," _Zipporah declared emphatically. Ziva smiled and kissed her forehead,

"_Your mummy will be very proud of you," _This seemed to please the little girl and she was quiet again for a few fleeting moments,

"_Wait, how will she know I'm not crying and am being brave?"_

"_Because she can still see you, she'll be looking after you like a, a , a, fairy godmother, like in Cinderella." _

"_But she can't come and bring me pumpkins because she needs to stay with grandma and granddad?"_

"_Exactly!" _

"_But she can still look after me with her magic?"_

"_Definitely"_

"_If I talk to her can she hear me?"_

"_Oh yes, I'm sure she'd love it if you spoke to her sometimes."_Zipporah smiled slightly and finally her curiosity seemed to be satisfied allowing Ziva to relax and lean back against the pillows. Tony had been observing the whole scene, not understanding a word of it and shot Ziva a questioning look. She shook her head and rolled her eyes silently. A few moments later he sat up and reached for the glass of water on his bedside table and took a quick sip, he was about to replace it when Zipporah held out her hands towards it,

"Thirsty" she said simply, he handed the glass to her carefully and she began taking large gulps from it.

"She has learnt a lot of words at nursery, her English gets better everyday," Ziva told him proudly. He smiled and looked at her,

"Yeah I can see that, in about a week she'll probably speak English better than you!" Ziva frowned at him,

"Pff yes and you are renowned for your linguistic skills! I am sure you would pick Hebrew very easily!"

Ziva snorted

"Well, at least you're finally getting the hang of sarcasm Ziva, it only took about a century!" he laughed playfully. Zipporah turned to Ziva,

"_What are you saying?"_ Ziva gave her the highlights of their conversation, well the bit about her English. Zipporah turned back to Tony, nodding vigorously,

"I learn lots words," she said proudly, "Ziva not good English!" she giggled, causing a large wave of water to tip from the glass all over Tony's t-shirt. He yelped at the sudden soaking and sat up, peeling off his sodden top as he did so. Zipporah's face froze and the crumpled,

"Sorry" she whimpered, "Sorry, sorry, accident" she started to cry quietly and shuffled slightly back away from him. He was using the dry side of the t-shirt to wipe his chest and was going to get a dry one out but was too surprised by her reaction,

"Hey, it's ok,"he smiled and laughed quietly, taking away the glass and putting it back on the table. She was still cowering away from him and Ziva had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, trying to comfort her but it didn't appear to be working. He reached out to the little girl, placing a hand under her cheek and pushing her head up so she could see his face,

"Zipporah, it's ok," he said soothingly but she still looked terrified with tears rolling down her cheeks. Finally he resorted to picking her up and pulling her against his chest, rubbing her back gently,

"_Look, see, Tony's not angry with you," _Ziva whispered to her, running a hand through Zipporah's hair. She sniffed and leant back to look at Tony, "No angry?" she asked uncertainly, he shook his head,

"Nope, not angry," and flashed her a cheesy grin.

"ok" she sighed and smiled half heartedly, he let her slide down till she was sitting in his lap. She giggled suddenly and stuck her hands out to his chest and pulled a handful of hair.

"LIKE PICKLE!" she squealed, Tony turned to Ziva,

"What?" he asked and she shrugged,

"_Tony's furry like pickle! It tickles just the same!" _Zipporah explained, Ziva threw back her head and laughed loudly, leaving Tony the only one outside the joke.

"What?!? What are you laughing at??" he whined childishly, Ziva was still chuckling when she told him,

"Pickle is my neighbour's dog, she thinks you are just as furry," she lay her head down on the pillow giggling, Tony looked indignantly at Zipporah,

"Hey, I am not furry!" she just smiled at him sweetly,

"Yes," she replied simply.

"well, I am not as hairy as a dog at least !"he sulked jokingly, flinging his head back onto the pillows, Ziva reached out her hand and tugged on a few tufts,

"It is a close contest Tony," she started laughing again, joined by Zipporah who then lay her head against Tony's chest; running a finger through his copious hair.

"_Is it tickly?"_ Ziva asked and Zipporah nodded and then giggled again. Tony huffed but laughed in spite of himself,

"Well, it takes a real man y'know-the ladies love it."

"Yes, I am using all my strength to resist you Tony," Ziva laughed, "My little hairy butt," she added playfully. He turned to face her,

"I _knew_ it" he exclaimed, "don't feel bad Ziva, I am pretty irresistible,"

"And yet I've managed for so long!" the both chuckled quietly, noticing Zipporah's eyes were drooping. Ziva stroked her hair soothingly until they were firmly shut and then continued anyway-finding it comforted herself too. The light hearted mood quickly evaporated leaving her free to descend back into despair. Tony noticed the dark look returning to her eyes and reached his hand up and wrapped it around the arm left lying across Zipporah,

"It's going to be ok Ziva,"

"I do not know what to do now,"

"You will be ok,"

"You do not know that,"

"Yes" he squeezed her arm tightly, "Yes I do,"


	5. Chapter 5

Tony woke up to the sound of someone sawing through his bed, or so his sleep addled mind initially thought but when his eyes snapped open in panic he saw only Ziva. She was sleeping on her side facing him, mouth gaping open, from which the ear shattering sound was coming.

"Ziva make _**noise!**_" He lifted his head off the pillow and saw Zipporah kneeling and staring at Ziva in awe.

"I know!"__he exclaimed, flinging himself back onto the pillow, pulling half around over his head in attempt to drown the snoring. It had hardly any effect, he didn't know how he had managed to sleep next to her all night. Although, he didn't know how long she had been asleep, she had definitely still been awake when he had fallen asleep so it was possible she had only just started snoring. He was considering this when he felt an impatient prodding on his side, he looked up at Zipporah,

"Yeah?"

"hungry," she said, rubbing her stomach to illustrate her point. He groaned and looked at the clock, it was half seven, not an entirely unreasonable time so he rolled out of the bed.

"Ok then how about some pancakes," she looked blankly at him, "pancakes?" he repeated,

"_pakes?"_ she said uncertainly

"Yeah, they're delicious!" he replied, dragging a clean, dry t-shirt from a drawer, "C'mon" he said as he headed towards the door.

"Pickle!" he froze and spun around slowly,

"what did you just call me?" she didn't reply, just held her arms up to him,

"pffff nice try kiddo but you're a big girl you can walk," she shook her head,

"Sleeeeeeeeeepy" she whimpered

"eh if you're to sleepy to walk then you're too sleepy for pancakes," she looked confused for a moment but then tilted her head to the side and pouted slightly. He sighed,

"Oh, don't give me that look!" she waggled her fingers at him, "oh ok fine come here" he sighed, scooping her up gently.

They'd been gone for about five minutes when Ziva began stirring, she took in a deep breath and smelt Tony's scent on the pillows. She opened her eyes and looked round the room, "_oh god I'm in Tony's bed,"_ she looked down at herself, "_and I'm wearing his clothes, what did we do last night?" _The panic which rushed through her distracted her from the actual reason she was here. But then she remembered. the happiness of ignorance disappeared as the events of the day came flooding back. The fire, Hannah lying on the kitchen floor then sprawled out on the pavement, eyes empty of their usual warmth and sparkle staring lifelessly. She had lost many friends before but none had hurt her like this, but then she had always had Hannah to turn to. Throughout her life Ziva had seen some horrific things and suffered too many tragedies to count in all corners of the world. She had always had Hannah to return to, someone who would listen to her and hold her when she needed to be held. No one knew her the way Hannah did; she didn't let people know her the way Hannah did-no one else in the world had ever seen her cry the way Hannah had and she had no intention of that ever changing. Ziva felt a black cloud of grief envelope her when she thought of all the times Hannah had pieced her back together after devastating missions and then further back to the more care free days of childhood when they had made so many plans for their future. She would never, ever admit it but part of her had been disappointed in Hannah when she had fallen pregnant and married Kaleb. After they completed their national service they had both intended joining Mossad and when Hannah ended up settling for a family life Ziva had judged her, felt that she was not fulfilling her potential. But then she saw how being a mother changed her, brought her the happiness she had lost she realised that some people are built to fight and some are built to nurture and that being a parent was Hannah's calling, her purpose in life. She provided Ziva with all the support she needed, accepting her long and for the most part unexplained absences easily and welcoming her home every time. Ziva felt the dark cloud bear down on her further when she thought of the girls, now left in her care. While Hannah may have been meant for child rearing Ziva most definitely was not, not for a long, long time at least. And yet now here she was with two motherless children to look after; what was she going to do with them? It was the kind of situation she would have needed Hannah to advise her on. She had always been there to help her, she had provided the only constant in Ziva's life, the anchor which held her steady throughout all the storms she had experienced but now she was cast adrift; with two stowaways on board. Ziva groaned and curled up in a ball, hiding her face in her hands,

"_Ziva?"_ Ziva uncurled her head and glanced towards the door where Leora was standing looking at her with her fiery red eyes. Ziva sat up slowly,

"_Are you ok ?"_ Leora began shaking her head slowly, her lip quivering as she started crying, Ziva pulled up some of the duvet,

"_Come here" _Leora stumbled into the bed next to her, lying down facing the ceiling.

"_What's going to happen now?"_ she asked, Ziva frowned and propped herself up on her elbow,

"_What do you mean?"_ Leora sighed and twisted the sheets in her hands slightly,

"_Now that mum's . . . gone . . . What about Zipporah and I? What's going to happen to us now?" _

"_Well, I haven't really thought . . ."_ Leora rolled over to face her,

"_But mum said you'd look after us, when we left Israel,"_

"_And I will but . . ."_

"_Don't send us back!"_

"_What?"_

"_to dad we can't go back there! He doesn't care about us, if he tries to get us back it will be for our mon . . ._Ziva cupped her cheek and moved their faces closer until she was staring right into her eyes,

"_I'll never let you go back there, ever,"_

"_really?"_ Ziva wrapped her arms around Leor, pulling her close,

"_Of course, your mother is, was the most important person in my life and I gave her my word that I would look after you all and I will keep it, no matter what,"_ Leora relaxed against her,

"_What if you can't stop him, what if he can make us go back, what if . . ."_

"_Leora, he will never get you back,"_

"_But he's important, has big friends what could you do if he really decided to take us?"_

"_I'll do anything," _and then she snorted disparagingly_, "Anyway, he is not as important as he likes to make out," _Leora sighed and curled up towards Ziva, leaning her legs against her ,

"_I was just worried about what was going to happen to us,"_

"_Well don't, you don't need to worry about that." _they lay in silence for a few minutes_, _both lost in their own thoughts, until Leora spoke again,

"_I went past the kitchen, Zipporah and Tony are in there,"_

"_Making breakfast?"_ Ziva asked hopefully, she hadn't eaten anything since lunch the day before,

"_they were making something but I'm not sure if I want to eat it!"_

"_well I'm starving, shall we brave it anyway?" Leora nodded and the slid off the bed and padded through to the kitchen._

_Zipporah was sitting on Tony's shoulders, gripping his hair tightly and giggling as he flipped pancakes. They were surrounded by batter splattered all over the work surfaces and what Ziva could only assume was every stirring spoon Tony owned coated in the gloop. They turned around as they heard Ziva and Leora enter the kitchen, _

"_Morning ladies, can I interest you in some pancakes alla DiNozzo??" he asked eagerly as they settled themselves on a pair of stools at the breakfast bar. Ziva scanned the room with her eyebrows raised,_

"_You mean some actually made it into a pan?"_

"_Hey come on, a little bit of mess is all part of the process!" Ziva still seemed unconvinced, "It shows a lot of enthusiasm went into the cooking, makes it all the more delicious, right Zippy?" he squinted his head up to look at the little girl who nodded vigorously although didn't really understand what she was agreeing to. _

"_Ok Tony, we will have some pancakes,"_

"_Ah so grateful, no yes please Tony I would love some of your famous and delicious pancakes," he grumbled light heartedly as he piled pancakes onto a couple of plates and handed them over with a generous helping of syrup. He then swung Zipporah down from his shoulders plonking her down on the bar and then handed her rolled up pancake,_

"_Thank-ooo 'ickle," she said, mouth already stuffed full, Tony flapped his arms in annoyance,_

"_No, not pickle-Tony," he then turned round to Ziva who was chocking on laughter and pancake, "She keeps calling me Pickle! Make her stoooooop!" He whined like a child telling on his sister. Ziva just smiled,_

"_Oh I don't know Tony, I thinks it's uhm . . . Sweet," Leora looked on confused,_

"_Why is she calling him Pickle?" Ziva quickly explained causing Leora to smile slightly,_

"_Well it could be worse Tony, my friend from school has two dogs she has had since she was young and they are called Princess Sparkle and Tallulah, at least we did not live next door to them!" Tony grimaced slightly,_

"_Oh fantastic, I feel soooo much better," he said sarcastically _


	6. Chapter 6

Tony was just finishing drying the last spoon when his phone rang,

"DiNozzo," he answered it,

"Hey Tony, uhh I know that you weren't going to come in today but there's a dead sailor out at Norfolk so you're going to have to now," it was McGee,

"But Gibbs said I didn't have to work!"

"Yeah, I know but well that was before we had a murder case. Sorry." Tony sighed,

"right ok then, I guess I'll meet you there,"

"Ok, how's Ziva?"

"Well uh she's . . .doing ok," He trailed off, very aware that she was still perched on a stool, watching him closely so he couldn't exactly say, "_she's a total mess, devastated and completely panic stricken,"_ without risking a grievous injury.

"Ok well give her my love then and Abby's too," Tony snorted,

"Give her your love? What are you, her grandmother?"

"Well what else am I meant to say? It's perfectly reasonable!" McGee responded indignantly,

"Whatever McGranny, I'll see you there," he hung up the phone and turned to Ziva. "McGee sends you his love," he told her, hands clasped to his chest in a theatrical fashion, "and I have to go into work," Ziva jumped off the stool,

"Why did he not phone me too? I can work! I am fine," she shouted, brandishing her arms angrily. Tony screwed up his eyebrows, "You. Cannot. Be. Serious." he said slowly, taking a step towards her with each word until he was close enough to place his hands on her shoulders.

"Yes I am, Why can I not go into work today? I am . . ."

"It doesn't matter how many times you say you're fine, it doesn't make it true!" she opened her mouth to argue but he beat her to it, "you need to take some time,"

"Working will calm my mind, help me to forget I do not see why I cannot go with you," Tony sighed in exasperation,

"Well for one thing Ziva you have no clothes, you are wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of boxers which I think might push even casual Fridays to the limit." she looked down at herself,

"But we could . . ." he moved his hands from her shoulders to her cheeks,

"Ziva, even if you had clothes you have new priorities now," he said softly as she raised her eyes to his face, "You need to stay with the girls today and you have to phone the hospital to find out when they're going to release Hannah's body and then you need to . . ." he stopped abruptly when he felt her legs start to buckle slightly, she quickly pulled herself back up onto the stool and spun round to face the bar,

"Hannah's_ body_," she repeated softly, trying to become accustomed to the new concept that Hannah was no longer a person but a thing, a lifeless corpse. She groaned suddenly and placed her head in her hands,

"You are right Tony I have so much to organise! Why did I not think of this? The apartment too, I need to find out what started the fire, how badly damaged it is, when I can go back. . ."

"Ziva," he ran a hand through her hair and rubbed her shoulders soothingly, "Ziva listen, just stay with the girls, they need you, I'll phone the hospital ok? Don't worry about it I'll take care of it," she spun back round to face him and wrapped her fingers around his wrists, "It is ok Tony I can do it, you should go to work now." he looked at her uncertainly,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes I am sure I was just . . . I am fine now." she said firmly,

"Well, ok then, I'll go get dressed then," he turned slowly and then walked out of the kitchen, leaving Ziva staring blankly out the window.

The day past agonisingly slowly, it felt like he had been there for a week rather than a day when he finally returned home at half past eight that evening. Ziva was sitting cross legged on the sofa, the v casting flickering blue light across her face.

"Sitting in the darkness?" he asked as he switched on a standard lamp, she shrugged,

"I didn't notice," he flopped down next to her,

"So . . .did you phone the hospital then?" he asked tentatively. She sighed and stretched her feet out to rest them on the coffee table,

"Yes," she paused and turned off the TV, "They said they did not know when they would be able to release her."

"What? But why?"

"Because she died and yet Zipporah was fine." she leant back into the sofa, "Her actual cause of death was asthma attack."

"Well there you go, smoke provoked her asthma that's why she died and Zippy was ok, why won't he release her?""Her inhaler was in her pocket so she could have taken it but did not. She was part of a drugs trial, for the anti-depressants, so the coroner wants to _investigate the effects of those further" she put on a pompous accent as she repeated the words of the pathologist. Tony sighed and loosened his tie as he said, "Well at least they're being thorough I guess,", she grunted non-committaly before turning to face him,_

"_I made dinner, I left you some in case you were hungry," he grinned at her,_

"_I'm always hungry" he leapt up "what is it?" he asked, already half way through to the kitchen. She laughed at him as she pulled herself up from the sofa,_

"_Well, since all you had was pasta, a tin of tomatoes and some cheese, it is a tomato and cheese pasta bake," _

"_Hey, I don't eat in a lot ok?" he replied indignantly as he pulled out the plate left for him from the fridge,_

"_Oh, so why is it that you have an entire drawer full of take away menus?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He crossed his arms across his chest,_

"_I may very occasionally feel like a pizza, is that a crime?"_

"_No," she replied as she strolled towards him, "but I think it might explain why you have this stubborn long bit just here!" she pinched the soft bit just above his belt causing him to squeal and leap back, clutching his belly protectively,_

"_Don't touch my fat roll!" he hissed as she chuckled at him,_

"_Oh did I find a little insecurity there Tony?" _

"_No," he retorted sulkily as the microwave pinged, he opened it and removed the pasta bake. He looked down at it, melted cheese had spread over it and was sinking down into the gaps between the pasta, he sighed, "Maybe I'm not that hungry," he looked at the greasy, fattening, delicious cheese longingly._

"_Oh Tony eat the bake, I was only joking!" she laughed and patted his cheek, "so sensitive" _

"_Hey, everyone has little insecurities" he sat down at the table and took a mouthful of pasta, "if I were to comment on your butt then you'd get annoyed too!" _

"_There is nothing wrong with my butt." she replied firmly,_

"_Well, it is big," she opened her mouth angrily, "Compared to the rest of your body, which is very, very slim." he added hastily. She frowned at him,_

"_It is not, it is fine!" she almost shouted, "Anyway it does not stop you staring!" he snorted,_

"_Well, it's pretty eye catching!" she slapped the back of his head sharply,_

"_Hey!" he yelped, "Oh right so when you're mocking my fat oh that's, fine just a joke but if I even make a little bit of fun of you, you get to hit me?" _

"_Yes" she replied simply,_

"_Oh yeah, that's fair!" he said grumpily but caught sight of her annoyed expression and quickly changed the subject,_

"_This is delicious, I could get used to coming home to a cooked meal," he said quickly, Ziva leant against the table,_

"_Well, I spoke to the fire department and my apartment is quite badly damaged, we will not be able to go back for a while so . . ."_

"_You can stay here as long as you want Ziva." he said, the jokey tone was gone and he was looking at her earnestly,_

"_Are you sure? All three of us?" she kept her yes fixed on her feet as she asked, he reached out and squeezed her hand,_

"_I'm sure, keep the cheesy pasta coming and you can stay forever if you want," she turned to him and smiled,_

"_Thank you Tony," she practically whispered._

"_No problem," she looked down at his hand on hers and he gently removed it, bringing it back to take another forkful of food. After a few moments of companionable silence Ziva stood up and sighed,_

"_I think I will get ready to go to bed" he nodded, mouth stuffed full as she turned towards the door and he watched her walk out, her butt "caught his eye" again as it rolled from side to side as she went._


	7. Chapter 7

-1A week later Tony was sitting on the sofa chuckling away at the cartoons he was watching with Zipporah who was messily eating a bowl of rice crispies. Ziva came scurrying out of the kitchen holding her cup of coffee in one hand and clasping her towel with the other,

"Tony, I thought you said you would have her ready by the time I came out of the shower!"

"Oh come on relax we have plenty of time she's eating her breakfast and all she has left to do is get dressed ok?" he twisted round to look at her and grinned widely, Zipporah placed her spoon down on the coffee table and shuffled around on the floor to look at her too, flashing a matching grin,

"Almost ready," she said brightly, "no need worries, lots time!" Ziva laughed despite herself,

"Well, I see she has been to the DiNozzo school of timekeeping already," Tony smiled and reached out to pat the little girl on the head,

"Graduated with honours" Ziva sighed and rolled her eyes and turned to Zipporah,

"_Are you remembering you're going at be at nursery all day today, not just until lunchtime like before?" _the little girl nodded, stuffing a huge spoonful of cereal into her mouth,

"_And after Tanya's mum will pick you up and you'll go and play with Tanya until Leora comes to get you?"_

"_I remember Zi Zi," _she answered, spraying chewed up crispies down her front,

"You see this is why I was waiting until after she had breakfast to dress her," Tony said smugly,

"Well, maybe you should have thought to eat breakfast first too Tony, your eating habits are influencing her as well." Tony looked down and noticed a dark coffee stain on his tie,

"Huh, well we do offer a full programme of classes at the DiNozzo academy," he said as he took it off, Ziva laughed and turned towards the bedroom,

"I am going to get dressed, will you remind Gibbs that I have to meet Leora's guidance teacher before I come into work today?" she called over her shoulder,

"Well I dunno, maybe it would help if you told me another five million times, then it might stick in my mind better," he replied sarcastically as she closed the door behind her. Zipporah slurped the milk out from her bowl and then stood up,

"Finished" she said proudly,

"_finally!"_ Tony replied melodramatically "Clothes time" he added before sweeping her up and carrying her under one arm through to her room while she giggled and squealed happily.

A couple of hours later Ziva came storming into the bullpen looking flushed and upset,

"Sorry I am late Gibbs, it took longer than I thought it would, she said as she flopped down in her chair.

"Ok Ziva," he replied as he glanced up from his computer screen.

"How did it go?" Tony asked,

"Fine," at that moment Gibbs' phone rang and interrupted her, not that she was going to elaborate anyway. Tony raised his eyebrows slightly and then returned to what he had been doing until Gibbs stood up and said they were going down to Abby's.

"ZIVA!" Abby squealed and leapt towards her, grabbing her and squeezing her in a rib-cracking hug, "Are you ok? I'm so sorry! I was going to come see you but then I thought maybe you wanted some time so I sent you flowers, you got the flowers right?"

"They were lovely Abby," Ziva answered with difficulty as Abby was squeezing the last ounce of breath from her lungs. Abby stepped back, keeping her hands wrapped around Ziva's arms,

"Are you sure you're ok, maybe you should have stayed off longer, you look sad," she tilted her head and examined Ziva's face carefully.

"Abs!" Gibbs exclaimed, sensing Ziva was uncomfortable with the attention, "Did you have a reason for calling us down here?"

"Gibbs, do I always have to have a reason to call? Maybe I was just lonely, maybe I just wanted to see my favourite people!" he stared at her for a few moments until her nerve broke,

"Of course, that's not the only reason you're here, just a happy bonus!" she said before continuing on to describe her findings.

Gibbs and McGee had gone back upstairs in front Ziva and Tony who had waited to speak to Abby for a few more minutes before walking towards the lift. When they were safely out earshot and waiting for the doors to open Tony turned to Ziva,

"What happened this morning?"

"Nothing . . ." Ziva started before she met his eyes and then sighed and rubbed her forehead, "I had a fight with Leora." she added, knowing it was pointless to try and hide it from him.

"What about?" he asked softly,

"She wanted to go and see her _boyfriend_" she replied incredulously.

"Ah"

"I said she could not because she had to pick up Zipporah and she could see him at school but she was still arguing so then I said she should not see him anyway, he is 3 years older than her! Three years!" her voice grew louder as she continued, " She said that he had invited her to his house after school in case she wanted to _talk_! I told her that he was definitely **not** wanting to **talk **to her. I said this boy has a one lane mind, he is taking advantage when she is vulnerable." the doors slid open and she stomped into the lift.

"It's a one track mind," he corrected her but when she spun around to face him her furious expression made him quickly realise his mistake so he hastily asked how long Leora had been with the boy,

"Exactly! How long? A week! Oh yes one week how convenient yes?"

"A week!" Tony exclaimed, "just since . . ."

"Yes, she says she knew before but he had been so _supportive _he was now her boyfriend." she sighed and leant back against the wall, "Maybe I was to hard, maybe I should have said she could go later, when I got home. Maybe I am being to judgemental, that is what she said." Tony flicked the switch causing the lift to grind to a halt,

"Oh no, you're not being judgemental, I was a 17 year old boy,"

"You still are," she interrupted, unable to let the opportunity to slip past her, he frowned at her but continued regardless

"Anyway the point is he ain't looking for a nice long, deep talk, that's for sure!" Ziva nodded slowly,

"I know but she was so angry with me,"

"What did she say?"

"That I had no right to tell her what to do, she could do what she wanted she does not need permission from me . . ."

"Every teenager says that when they're angry, y'know it's all part of the rebellion phase. I bet you said that when you were a teenager hundreds of times." She stared at him blankly,

"No, never."

"Oh come on, you must have. Even just once?" she shook her head emphatically,

"I did what I was told. Always." he looked at her uncertainly,

"Well ok any normal kid whose father is not the director of Mossad says that at least everyday." he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Don't worry about it, I said it all the time but it was always just front. Yell in the morning then slink in from school and pretend it never happened, trust me this will blow over it's not serious she'll be there when we go back." Ziva looked unconvinced but nodded anyway as he turned the lift back on.

Later that afternoon Tony could sense that his little pep talk had had little effect on Ziva who was still moping about behind her desk, he stood up and announced he was going out for coffee. He returned twenty minutes later and handed McGee his cup and then turned back to Ziva's desk and placed hers next to her keyboard and then produced a muffin from the middle of the cup holder he was carrying.

"I brought you a cake, it'll make you feel better," he said, waving it in front of her face gently. She smiled weakly and took it from him,

"Thank you pickle," she said absentmindedly. McGee's ears pricked and he snapped his face up from his desk,

"Did she just call you Pickle?" he asked grinning widely,

"No," they replied instantly and in unison,

"Yes you did, I heard you." he laughed slightly while Tony turned to Ziva,

"You promised you wouldn't call me that at work!" he hissed angrily, she shrugged,

"It was a trip of the tongue,"

"Slip, slip of the tongue," he grumbled as she spun to look at McGee,

"It is what Zipporah calls him, I have just got used to using it as well," she explained.

"Oh right," he replied still chuckling, "Why pickle?"

"No reason," Tony interjected quickly while Ziva burst out laughing,

"It is because he is hairy, very hairy, like my neighbour's dog Pickle," she told McGee who joined her in laughing uproariously while Tony looked at her outraged.

"HEY!" he shouted, "Did you have to tell him?" she just continued to chuckle as she unwrapped her muffin. Just then Gibbs strode into the bull pen behind Tony who spun around when he felt him arrive,

"Hey boss, I brought you a coffee," he said indicating to the one closest to him. Gibbs grabbed it along with the remaining muffin lying next to it, "Uh boss, that's kind of well my mine," Tony stuttered nervously.

"Well where's mine?"

"uh I didn't get you one, you never want one. I don't think I've ever seen you eat before!" Tony answered.

"Well, I like muffins DiNozzo." Gibbs replied matter of factly turning and striding away from him,

"But" Tony called after him,

"This way you'll remember next time . . . Pickle." Gibbs called over his shoulder, smiling cheekily as he took a big bite out of the muffin as he walked. Ziva snorted loudly as Tony looked crestfallenly at the tray, now holding just his lonely coffee. He sighed and flopped down in his chair and took an angry sip as Ziva answered her mobile. As she spoke all traces of laughter disappeared from her face, she hung up and started gathering up her stuff,

"What's wrong?" Tony asked and she looked up exasperatedly,

"Leora has not been to collect Zipporah and Lisa, Tanya's mother, is going out-she says she would have taken Zipporah with them but there's not enough room in the car so I will have to go and get her." she started to leave before pausing at Tony's desk,

"She's just acting out a bit, she just lost her mum it's understandable. She'll stay out long enough to make herself feel better or until she feels she taught you a lesson and then she'll be back. Don't worry." Ziva nodded, took a few more steps and then paused again.

"But what about,"

"She's not stupid, she'll work out the boy's game it'll be fine." he continued reassuringly and she smiled at him for a few moments before finally leaving.

A couple of hours later Tony was still at work, swaying his chair around slightly while he thought. Ziva still hadn't heard from Leora and she wasn't answering her calls, maybe he should try calling her. And if that didn't work he could always ask Abby to track her phone, just so they knew where she was-no harm in that. He was just reaching to get his mobile out of his pocket when it began to ring. He flicked it open,

"DiNozzo," he answered,

"Tony?" Leora asked, she was crying,

"Leo? Where are you? Are you ok? What's wrong?"

"Can you come and pick me up?"

"Yeah, yeah of course where are you?"

"I do not know. I'm in a park with swings and a slide and across the there's a barbecue restaurant called Cowboy Collins Big Grill" she sniffed loudly and swallowed, "Do you know it? I could go in and ask what street this is,"

"No it's ok, I know Collins just stay where you are I'm coming."

"Thank you," he hung up the phone and stood up as he dialled Ziva's number.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony parked his car in front of the restaurant but remained seated for a few moments, trying to psyche himself up to go across the road to the park. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. _"no Ziva, it's fine I'll go get her on my way back no problem." why didn't I just let Ziva go? She knows her better than me, what do I know about fourteen year old girls?_ He closed his eyes and leant back on the headrest, on the other hand Ziva had been absolutely furious-that was why he had thought it would be better if he came to pick her up, give Leora a chance to explain herself before she faced Ziva's wrath. He unplugged his seatbelt and pulled himself out of the car and began trudging towards the park, full of trepidation. "How the hell did I end up here?" he thought as he crossed the road, "This time last week all I had to worry about was what to order in for dinner, if I was going to pay football at the weekend, picking up my dry leaning now I'm dropping off toddlers at nursery and running all over town looking for a freaking run away teenager!" He sighed as he entered the park, scanning it quickly. It was pretty busy with families strolling around or playing catch but he picked her out from the crowd; she was perched on the table of a picnic bench watching some little kids playing and giggling on the swings. He took in another deep breath and approached her, she didn't notice him until he was at her side.

"uh hi," he greeted her uncertainly, she turned round, tearing her eyes form the cheerful and carefree kids. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her shirt was rumpled, the first couple of buttons were missing and her tie was gone. "What happened? Are you ok?" he gasped grabbing her shoulders, examining her closely,

"I am fine, it is ok now Tony." she relied simply, he straightened up slightly, wholly unconvinced.

"Who did this? That boy? What's his name?"

"Nothing happened,"

"Of course something happened, look at you! What did he do?" he demanded again. She pursed her lips and looked down at the ground,

"Nothing, I uh, I do not know, I thought it might be a good idea. I thought that it might make me feel better. Make me forget for a while." Her shoulders sagged slightly and he sighed and shut his eyes; fearing the worst. "But then, once I was there, it did not seem like a good thing. I changed my mind." she paused and bit her lip, "But he, he was really angry with me. I thought that he was nice but he is not. I tried to get up but he, he grabbed my shirt. The buttons came off." she stopped talking and Tony squeezed her shoulders, wanting her to continue but at the same time terrified of what might be coming. She didn't so he asked,

"Did he . . . Force you?" he hissed through gritted teeth; images flashing through his head of tracking this scumbag down and beating the crap out of him. Or worse. Tony was taken aback by how strongly he felt about this-he had only known this girl for a week and already he was contemplating the most painful way to exact revenge on some guy who had hurt her. Leora looked up at him, smiling weakly as though she could tell what he was thinking.

"No, he let go when I started shouting. And then I started crying-a lot. I was thinking what my mum would think of me for doing that. She would be very disappointed in me." she sighed and then leant forwards, running her hands through her hair. "He is going to tell everyone at school. He will tell them that I am crazy and weird." she moaned quietly before looking back up at Tony, her eyes were shining with tears waiting to fall. Her face was still damp from crying and some whisps pf hair had become plastered to her cheeks, without thinking Tony reached out and gently brushed them back. He was again shocked by his behaviour, it was as though he was watching someone else's hand moving through the air.

"Nah, he won't," he said reassuringly as his arms dropped back to his sides, "He is much more likely to just tell his friends that he got all the way with you." he instantly realised that maybe this was just as bad, or worse.

"All the way?" Tony swallowed nervously,

"Uh, well, you know, like if you slept with him."

"Huh" she leant forwards, resting her elbows on her knees sighing deeply. "I was going to you know, that is why I went to his house, what a, a, slut?" unsure if it was the right word. Tony plunked himself down on the seat and leant back against the table.

"It's understandable Leo." he said quietly,

"What?" she replied softly,

"I did the same thing, well only I actually did it." Leora turned to face him slowly,

"What?"

"Mother died when I was about your age too so I went out and found the most inappropriate and unsuitable woman to uh, well I dunno I guess I thought it would make me feel better or make me feel like I was could control something in my life or maybe I was just acting out who knows? Either way, it was definitely not a good idea to lose my virginity to a rockette." he chuckled quietly before it suddenly occurred to him that maybe it was slightly inappropriate to discuss the loss of his virginity to a fourteen year old girl. He turned to look at her, to see her reaction and found her staring back at him. She looked suddenly different, the whole time he had known her, her eyes had been burning with hurt and anger. Anger that in one day her life had been ripped apart, in a few moments the most important fixture in her life was torn from her and the loneliness and fury had been present ever since. Now however her expression had calmed down as she had found someone who understood, who had experienced the same pain. They were quiet for a few moments before she asked;

"How did she die?"

"Car crash" he replied bluntly.

"All over in a moment." Leora stated dreamily before they again slipped into silence both staring ahead at the play park. Leora suddenly turned to him, tilting her head inquisitively, "What happened to you after your mother died?" he sighed and folded his arms,

"Well . . . Then it was just me and my dad. He was never the same you know, after my mom . . . He started drinking a lot. Well a lot more. He sent me to boarding school and then I spent most of my holidays with my uncles and cousins and things." He didn't look at her as he spoke, concentrating on keeping his voice even, in all these years he had never really spoken about it and he had never thought he would be discussing it with a teenage girl who was now living in his apartment with her baby sister, what a bizarre turn his life had taken. He had been lost in thought for a few minutes before Leora spoke again having had her own deep think,

"Well, I suppose it is lucky that I have Ziva to well, make sure I do not have to go back to my own father. He also is no good." she almost whispered.

"Yeah, you are. I wish I'd had someone to . . . Look after me." Leora stared at the ground, "She's doing her best you know, she's never had to do anything like this before." she snapped her head up and fixed her eyes on him.

"Oh I know, I was thinking abut how horrible I was this morning. She was right, very right and I was . . . I …" he stood up carefully and stretched,

"Oh she's fine, she was just worried about you"

"Really?"

"Well . . . She was maybe slightly uhhmm angry but mostly worried." she looked at him disbelievingly. "It's fine, come on let's go I'm starving!" he reached out and laid his hand on her shoulder and gently pulled, encouraging her to hop off the bench. and they started back towards the car park. They were strolling along companionably when his phone rang, he flipped it open and answered it,

"Tony? Did you find her? Is she alright? Where has she been?"

"Yeah, yeah I found her, she's fine," he turned to glance at Leora, "You're fine right?" she nodded quickly and shouted something in Hebrew, "She's fine," he repeated down the phone.

"Well what did she say? Where has she been? Why was she not there to pick up her sister?"

"Yeah Ziva I know that you're just relieved to know that she's ok and that nothing terrible happened because that's the main thing isn't it?" he said pointedly, hoping Ziva would pick up the message that Leora had narrowly escaped a horrible experience and had not just spent the afternoon making out with a hot guy.

"Yes, yes Tony you are right I know, I was just frustrated because it was my first day at work you now? So she really is fine yes?"

"Yup"

"Good so she will not mind if you stop to get some food on your way home because there is absolutely nothing in this place to eat you live like a student. A lazy one at that."

"Hey, hey, hey, I think you have been in my apartment long enough to be partly responsible for the cupboards! And, a few packs of instant noodles never hurt anyone, they are the building blocks of this fine physique." he brandished his arm up and down his body even though Ziva couldn't see him as Leora and her laughed simultaneously.

"Right, yes Tony, you would make a fine poster boy for them-an excellent depiction of their effects on the body. I am sure they would run off the shelves" Ziva chuckled sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't care much for your tone David and they would fly off the shelves, fly." he snapped.

"Anyway, how about pizza, I have such a craving for it."

"Well, that is shocking, you want a pizza."

"What can I say? It's an Italian thing!"

"Huh it will be our third this week!"

"I know I'm cutting down!" Tony joked causing Ziva to chuckle slightly,

"Well, ok then I will see you when you get back. Thank you Tony."

"Don't mention it, we'll be back in about forty five minutes ok?"

* * *

**ok so I am thinking I might just leave this here, I know it is a bit of a rubbish thing to do but I had the whole storyline mapped out in my head and it is really long but this is my least popular story. Even my oldest one has had about 400 more readers this month alone, although that was for bones so maybe there's just loads and loads of bones readers I don't know but this still has about 200 fewer visitors than my 2nd bottom one. I thought it didn't matter to me if no one read my stories because I only wrote to ease boredom, but it turns out that it kind of does! Frankly the rest of this would be alot of work and I just don't think it's worth the effort for like 60 visitors (although thanks you guys!) I know that really i should probab;y just put in a wee concluding chapter but because i had such a long storyline planned I just can't quite bring myself to tag on a really last minute ending chapter onto this as I don't really know what to put into it that would would be able to tie this up in a non sickly way! So anyway I know this is really lazy and probably sounds a little grumpy now that i've read back over it ( I don''t mean it to and i can see why people might not like it, even i'm finding it a bit slow! well very slow hence the trepidation of completing the 4 million chapters!) anyways, thanks for reading this far and sorry! M** x


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as they stepped through the door Ziva leapt to her feet and strode towards them, stopping a few feet away and examining Leora's appearance closely. Leora had attempted to straighten herself out on the way over but it was not enough to fool Ziva's intense gaze.

"_What happened?" _she demanded,

"_Nothing . . ."_ Leora looked down at the floor biting her lip, "_I'm sorry about this morning, I didn't mean it. You were right."_ she gulped and kept staring down while Ziva remained rooted to the spot, unsure how to handle he situation, "_Are you angry at me?" _Leora whispered, her voice quavering as she teetered on the verge of tears.

"_No, no I'm not angry now,"_ Ziva replied instantly as she rushed towards her, wrapping her arms tightly around her shoulders,_ "I'm just glad you're home safe, we didn't know where you were."_ Leora sobbed slightly in relief as a couple of tears slid from her eyes and ran down onto Ziva's shoulder. There was a few moments of silence until Tony shifted uncomfortably, trapped behind them, his stomach was aching with hunger and the delicious smells wafting from the pizza boxes were torturing him.

"uh Ziva?" he asked plaintively "Can I . . .?" she smiled at him over Leora's shoulder.

"Yes Tony, you can get the pizzas out." he grinned thankfully,

"Sorry didn't want to interrupt the moment but y'know a guys gotta eat!" he edged passed them while Leora lifted her head up and stared at Ziva who raised her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks,

"Are you hungry?"

"Definitely," Leora replied stepping back and dropping her school bag,

"Go and get your sister, she has been worried about you too." Ziva said as she started towards the coffee table where Tony had already laid out the boxes and had just taken a giant bite of a slice. He chewed noisily as Leora walked out of the room before struggling to swallow the mouthful. He turned to face Ziva,

"See everything's fine, she didn't mean anything by it it's just what teenagers do." he took another bite of his pizza while Ziva watched, frowning slightly as she reflected on the ups and downs of the day. She really didn't understand teenagers. Just then they heard the voices of the two girls of the two girls as they emerged from the bedroom.

"Pickle!" Zipporah squealed and raced towards Tony, wrapping her arms tightly around his leg as she rammed into him almost sending him flying. He laughed and bent down to sit on the floor, Zipporah grabbed a slice of pizza and plonked herself roughly down onto his knee, chattering away to him in a strange mixture of Hebrew and English. Ziva and Leora watched from where they were sitting;

"She really likes you Tony," Ziva commented suddenly, he turned towards her,

"There's no need to sound so surprised, of course she does why wouldn't she?" he retorted,

"I am just thinking that you have not always had much success when it comes to bonding with children."

"What are you talking about Ziva? I'm great with kids-they love me!" he insisted, gesturing towards Zipporah who had stopped munching away on her slice and was carefully picking off all the little pieces of onion and leaving them in a small pile on his knee. "HEY!" he noticed the greasy heap and grabbed them up, moving them to the table, "What did you do that for?" he demanded, Zipporah fixed her chocolate brown eyes on him,

"'cause . . . Cause . . ." she stammered, trying to find the right words, "'cause . . . Ewwww" she screwed up her face and wrinkled her nose to emphasise her hatred of onions. Two snorts of laughter cam from the sofa; Tony ignored them and kept his stern expression etched onto his face. Zipporah lowered her head but kept her saucer eyes fixed plaintively on his; he could only resist her for a few seconds before his face cracked into a smile.

"uh ok, ok alright you can stop that now." he sighed and reached out for the pizza, finishing picking of the onions for her. He looked up to find Ziva and Leora smirking at him,

"She has you wrapped around her thumb" Ziva laughed,

"Is it not; she has you under the little finger?" Leora asked and the two of them stared at each other thoughtfully for a moment until Tony started chuckling loudly,

"I think you'll find that it's wrapped around her little finger or under the thumb. Seriously; two weeks time Zippy's English will be better than yours!" The two of them frowned at him for a few moments before striking up a conversation in Hebrew, throwing furtive glances at him and giggling as they spoke, quickly joined by Zipporah's own little chuckle. Tony darted his eyes between them trying to decipher what they were saying.

"Are you talking about me? That's not fair what are you saying?" He whined like a petulant child.

"Oh Tony," Ziva stood up and strolled towards him, "Never mind, maybe in a couple of weeks time your Hebrew will be much better," she ruffled his hair playfully, her finger tips tickling his head gently, before gathering up the empty pizza boxes and taking them into the kitchen. His eyes followed her as she left the room, running over the gentle roll of her hips as she walked before he turned back to face Leor who was quietly slurping from her glass. He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

"I'll work it out you know, soon I'll know what you're saying about me." he hissed jokingly at her. She rolled her eyes,

"Very paranoid Tony. That is what you are."

"Not paranoid if I'm right!"

"Aww, poor Pickle is getting himself all worried." She chuckled at him playfully but he stared stonily back at her, "I know you are not really angry, that look does not work on any of us," she grinned causing him to sigh in exasperation and glance down at Zipporah who was now lolling sleepily against his chest.

"You hear that Zippy, they're ganging up on me! You wouldn't do that would you?" She smiled drowsily at him, "Nope I knew it." he returned her smile and scooped her up and struggled to his feet. "Ok bed time," she jerked her head up,

"Noooo! But not sleepy, awake!" she whined at him stretching up to look him in the eye, forcing her own as wide as possible to illustrate her point. He shook his head,

"Nope bed Zippy," she screwed up her lips at him,

"Story." she demanded, setting her jaw in determination.

"Oh, you drive a hard bargain," he cocked his head as though he were thinking her conditions over carefully, "ok you win, one story,"

"K" she slouched back down leaning her head on his shoulder contently as he headed towards her room, waving goodnight to her sister over Tony's shoulder. Leora leant back in the sofa and smiled as she watched the two of them disappear.

Ziva returned from the kitchen and flopped down next to her on the sofa and they sat in silence for a few moments until Leora spoke, "Zipporah is so much happier here than she was at home," Ziva looked up in surprise,

"You think so?"

"Definitely, you know, dad resented her so much. It didn't matter how much love mum gave her she could still feel it." Ziva nodded quietly and stared at the wall in front of her. "Ziva?"

"Mmmm?"

"Do you now what's going to happen, have you spoken to the lawyers or anything?"Leora asked tentatively and Ziva sighed and leant back.

"I have to go to the will reading next week."

"In Israel?" she nodded,

"I will sort it out then."

"What will you do? What will happen to us? What if . . ." Ziva reached her arm around the girl's shoulder and stroked her hair gently,

"All you need to know is that whatever happens, you will not be going back there. You don't need to worry about anything, if you want to stay here then that's what will happen." Leora leant against her shoulder,

"We would like to stay with you." she said quietly, Ziva smiled and slowly shut her eyes,

"Ok then," she whispered back.


	10. Chapter 10

**ok I sort of got really bored with my other story so thought i might turn my hand back to this instead, so well i hope ypu enjoy the fruit of my boredom and if you think should keep going with this (or not!) then let me know! **

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A few hours later Tony was lying in bed frowning at Ziva's book. He opened it and turned it upside down, screwing his face up as he examined it. Ziva emerged from the en-suite wearing a plain vest top and shorts, she shot him a questioning glance, "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking at this, how can you read this? Doesn't even look like letters!" he ran his eyes over the page again,

"You read it from right to left Tony." she told him as she crossed the room towards the bed, clambering into her side.

"oh right, well now it makes perfect sense to me!" he handed her the book, expecting her to read for a while like she usually did before falling asleep but she just took it and held it limply in her hand. He said nothing for a few minutes but finally broke the silence,

"Uh, Ziva? You ok?" she frowned at the ceiling before rolling onto her side,

"Tony, next week I must go to Israel to sort out some things in Hannah's estate."

"Uhm . . . Ok." he replied uncertainly,

"Can you look after the girls, just for a few days."

"uh, yeah, sure." he smiled at her, "no problem,"

"Thank you." they lay in silence again until Tony asked;

"Are you ever going to tell me what the deal is with their dad or not?" She flicked her eyes up to meet his which were staring at her earnestly. She sighed and rolled onto her back;

"Hannah's family were very rich, she has a lot of money which she left entirely to the girls in trust funds which are to be looked after by their legal guardian until they are twenty one." She paused for a second before continuing, "Hannah told me that she had changed her will before she left to come here-naming me their guardian."

"Okaaay . . ." Tony prompted her,

"But their father still has to relinquish parental rights and can dispute the will. He is not a good man and is a terrible father. He never wanted children, he resented Leora but he hated Zipporah even more. He had assumed that they were finished having children but then came Zippy and well, he was not pleased. But now, they are the only chance he has to get at Hannah's fortune. You see he will try to take them back to get their trust funds- he has nothing of his own he just leeched off Hannah like a parasite." She spat the last sentence out furiously. "Leora does not want to go back, she says her and Zipporah are much happier here than they would be at home with him." her voice lost its venomous fury and took on a tone of wonder and confusion.

"Of course they like it here, why wouldn't hey? You are handling everything amazingly." Tony reached out and squeezed her arm encouragingly, "I'm, well, proud of you I guess," he whispered uncomfortably, letting go of her. She turned her head to look at him,

"They like it here because of you Tony, without you we would not have made it this far." Tony blushed slightly under her intense gaze before dropping his eyes to avoid it.

"So, basically, we're doing a good job?" he chuckled to lighten the mood slightly, she smiled back at him,

"I think so, according to Leo they are as happy as they could be . . .considering."

"Good," he smiled, "So, do you know when you're going then?"

"Tuesday, I am not sure exactly when I will be back. The weekend I think, is that ok?"

"Course." she sighed and turned to place the book on the bedside table and switched off the light leaving the room shrouded in a thick inky blue.

She fell asleep quickly, the sound of her gentle snores soon filled the air. She rolled towards him slightly and then every few moments shuffled closer and closer.

Sharing a bed with Ziva had brought an amusing discovery to his attention-she was a cuddly sleeper. Of course e had often slept with someone who liked to be held

but he had never had Ziva pegged for one of them but every night within five minutes of her falling asleep she was inevitably pressed up against him. She was like a

heat seeking missile, he only had to move a tiny bit and she instantly followed him, once he had leant over to switch off the light and she pushed herself right up

against his back, preventing him from lying back down. He wasn't complaining, he enjoyed feeling her warm skin pressed up against him, having her wild hair tickling his

cheek while her scent filled his nostrils. He could never resist wrapping his arms around her, convincing himself that this was what she wanted, albeit subconsciously,

when she nuzzled up against him. He held her close, revelling in the feel of her curves against his body while she slept, she always got up before him so she must be

aware of their cosy sleeping arrangements but had never commented on it. Maybe she thought it was him who pulled her to him in the night but he didn't care, as long

as he got to hold her it didn't matter. She already had her back pressed against his side and he was about to roll over to let her lean against his chest when she

suddenly spun around, flinging an arm across his chest while her leg slipped in-between his two. Her head nestled its way into the crook of his neck so that he could

feel the hot moisture of her breath brush against his skin as she snored. HE slid his right arm underneath her and wrapped it around her shoulders while he brought

the other to rest on the arm lying across his chest. He sighed and began pondering their relationship, in many respects it was the most intimate he had ever had. He

lived with her, shared a bed with her, held her all night and was looking after two children with her. And what shocked him was that he liked it, he liked having people

in his flat, he liked having people around when he got up and when he came in from work and having someone to talk to at nights. He squeezed Ziva tighter to him and

sighed contentedly, impulsively kissing her head softly. She shifted slightly in her sleep, slowly dragging her foot up across his leg until her knee was dangerously close

to him. He held his breath, torn between hoping she would lowered it again and wanting her to keep pulling it up. She went with the latter, sighing as she pressed it

against him, he groaned quietly and reached his hand down to push it away, he could feel the warmth of her thigh radiate through the thin fabric of his shorts and the

heat was already causing him to harden. He pressed his hand against her thigh, intending to push it down slightly but as soon as his fingertips brushed against smooth

caramel skin he stopped and closed his eyes. Tony began to caress her skin in soft circles, his fingers danced across her as he bit his lip, trying desperately to stop his.

But instead of listening to him his fingers they began to skim further up her leg until they reached the hem of her shorts, they hesitated briefly before slipping under

them and moving up towards her ass. He was pressing his fingers deeper into her firm flesh as they moved higher and higher until they reached her cheek. His breath

was becoming laboured as he tried to control himself, this was crazy, she could wake up at any moment and then what would she do if she found his hand up there?

Cut it off probably! But it was worth the risk, he couldn't stop, he loved the feel of her perfect round ass in his hand. He squeezed it, digging his fingers deep into the

soft skin and let out a long soft moan. She shifted slightly and he tore his arm back out of her shorts, leaving it lying by his side as far away from her as possible. He lay

still for a few moments until her snoring had returned to its normal pattern before he moved hi arm back to rest on his stomach. Ok, he thought, just keep your arm

away from her and then you can forget that ever happened. He closed his eyes for a minute but then opened them again, he could feel his hand itching to slide across

to her. Ok so he could rest his arm on her, that would be fine. He let it lie against her waist, dangling down her back. A few moments later she wriggled again, shuffling

down slightly which meant that her leg moved slightly down his leg but on the other hand caused her vest to ride up, revealing a tantalising slit of caramel skin. He

could see her skin glow in the navy light struggling through the curtains. It was calling to him, begging to be touched, he swallowed and reached down, slidding a finger

across it. He sighed and gave in, slipping it up under her top letting it glide across her warm back. He swept his hand across it in circles before slowing it down to a

gentle caress, letting his fingers brush against her. He slid up to her shoulder blades before dragging a finger down her spine, she squirmed slightly and sighed when

he reached the bottom but he didn't stop this time, instead he began pressing his hand more firmly against her, feeling her smooth skin dimple under the pressure. He

pulled his hand over to her side, allowing his thumb to slip over so when he began sliding his hand up again it was gliding across her waist. As his hand slid up higher

he began to allow it to slide towards her front, edging it closer to the soft bulge of her breast which was pressed against his chest. He had almost reached it when she

let out another loud moan and pressed her body harder against his, arching her back to push closer to him. This time he did pull his arm out from under her top and

then carefully pushed her off his chest, rolling her onto her side away from him. He lay back down, Breathing heavily he stared at the ceiling, not believing what he had

just done


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi, ok not that much happens in this bit, it was meant to be the chapter when Ziva goes off to Israel but I sort of got side tracked! anyway, i have about a million tonnes of work to do tonight but am always looking for a distraction so I might end up writing the next chapt instead lol! far more fun than the reasons for emigration to virginia in the seventeenth century anyway, if i look at one more table of emigrants from Bristol i may DIE! Right ok starting to ramble agian so all i wanted to say was thanks for the reviews they're great and let me know what you think of this if you want too although, well there isn't that much to say about it but it killed an hour this afternoon so i'm quite happy!!! **

* * *

The next morning Tony woke up and glanced at his alarm clock, it was six. He rolled out of bed and padded towards the bathroom while his mind kept flashing back to what he had done the night before. He turned on the shower and stripped while it heated up before stepping under the hot spray. Unfortunately the warmth did nothing to relax him or wash the dark feeling of dread which was clinging to him. He assumed Ziva was out for her daily run, what if she was using it to think of the best way to punish him for taking advantage of her sleeping body? But, if she had been sleeping then she wouldn't know he had done it so if she did know; that would mean she had to have been awake and had done nothing to stop him. And she had moaned too, she must have liked it. . . He scrubbed his skin roughly, furious at himself for having so little self control-this could ruin everything! What if she decided mo move out? He Didn't want them to leave and for his home to fall quiet again. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself off before wrapping his towel around his waist, he sighed-she didn't know he decided. She definitely would have killed him at the time, no way she would just let him fondle her, or pretend to be asleep for that long. He sighed, convinced that he had nothing to worry about and turned to stroll out of the bathroom. As he opened the door he was met by the accusatory eyes of Zipporah who was sitting cross-legged on his bed.

"Up early" she said, she was used to waking up when Ziva was leaving for her run and slipping through into their room to get Tony out of bed, demanding her breakfast. Tony grinned at her,

"Yup, sneaked past you this morning!" he ruffled her hair as he past her, heading to get a pair of boxers out his drawers. Zippy sighed and lay down, snuggling deep into the pillows while Tony slipped the boxers on under his towel, "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked as he continued getting dressed.

"'pakes!" her voice was muffled by the covers but he could still make out the tone of excitement.

"No Zippy, pakes are only for weekend breakfast. You can have crispies or cheerios," She rolled over and sat up frowning in disappointment.

"k, 'eeros," she raised her finger in a threatening manner, "But with nana too!" He turned and laughed when he saw her, she had Ziva's narrowed eyes look down to a T.

"Ok dokey, cheerios and banana it is, let's go." Zipporah's menacing expression disappeared as she leapt off the bed and scampered through to the kitchen ahead of him.

Zippy was happily sitting up at the breakfast bar eating her cereal while Tony leant against the counter drinking a cup of coffee when Ziva arrived home from her run. Her skin was glistening with sweat and little tendrils of hair were plastered across her forehead, she always looked really beautiful just after her run; all glowing and relaxed, thought Tony. The tight running shorts didn't hurt either, clinging to her as she strolled towards them.

"Zizi!" Zippy shouted to her as she crossed the room, Ziva smiled and bent down to kiss her as she past. Zippy had bent her head back to meet her lips with her own and as soon as she had she wiped her face,

"Eh wet" Ziva laughed and wiped her face on her arm,

"Sorry, I know all wet from running." Zippy screwed up her face and went back to her cereal. Tony was standing quietly in the corner, his stomach was still twisting in fear despite the long pep talk he had given himself earlier, "she doesn't know, she doesn't know, she doesn't know," he kept repeating the phrase in his head. Ziva turned and smiled at him, Good morning Tony,"

"Morning, good run?"

"Mmmmmm," she replied and started towards him, he gulped nervously as she advanced, she paused just in front of him and cocked her head slightly.

"Uhm, excuse me." she reached out and placed her hands on his hips, gently pushing him sideways.

"Oh, sorry," He edged along the counter, away from the coffee machine he had been blocking, her left hand gently ran across his stomach back to her side as she filled a cup of her own. It was an absent minded action and yet he still sighed at the feel of her fingers dragging across his shirt,

"Are you ok Tony?" Ziva's voice suddenly brought him back to his senses and he turned his head to look at her, her deep brown eyes were staring back at him, tinged with concern.

"What? Yeah I'm fine." he grinned, she opened her mouth to say something else but just then Leora staggered into the room and collapsed onto a barstool.

"Why do I have to set my alarm sooo early? School does not start for HOURS" she groaned as she lay her head down on the counter.

"Well good morning to you too Leo," Tony said between sips while Zippy reached out to pat her sister on her head.

"Grump," she said affectionately as she ran her fingers thorough Leora's tangled hair. She received a muffled grunt in response before Leo sat back up resting her head on her hand.

"Just because you have to leave early why do I have to be up?" Ziva walked towards her and placed her cup of coffee on the breakfast bar in front of her,

"Because, I need to see you ready before we leave, so I know that you have not slept in and missed school." she said as she turned towards the bedrooms.

"What if I just get dressed before you go and then go back to bed after you leave? or go shopping instead of school?" Leora retorted as she took a long slurp out of the coffee cup. Ziva spun round, silently slipped up behind her and then suddenly slammed her hand down on the counter,

"Because, if you jump school I. Will . Know." she hissed into her ear. Leora laughed and batted her away with her hand,

"Ok, ok I know," she giggled as Ziva reached over to steal a final sip of coffee, "Could you please go and have a shower now Zi, you are stinking !" Ziva stepped back laughing and turned to head back to the bedroom,

"And it is skip school," Leora called after her, Ziva spun round whilst still walking,

"Huh my meaning was clear, my eyes are on you." she replied as she disappeared through the door . Leora rolled her eyes and then looked up at Tony,

"Did she tell you she is going to Israel?" she asked, Tony nodded,

"Yeah, it'll just be you and me next week." he replied, worried that she was going to be depressed about Ziva being gone, or uncomfortable being left with just him or scared of what would happen in Israel with her father,

"Yeah, so, when Ziva's not here, will you still make me get up so early?" she looked up at him hopefully and he relaxed instantly, chuckling slightly.

"Are you kidding? Go directly against Ziva's orders? Do you seriously think there is any chance that I am not terrified of that woman?" Leora sighed and slumped back down in her stool,

"She is not that scary, she is just all woof and no teeth," Tony smiled,

"Well maybe to you but to me it's ALL teeth." he laughed, ignoring her mistake, she stared into her cup,

"Uh ok then," He stepped over to top up her cup,

"Nice try though," he said as he did so, she spun round and stared up at him,

"Ok, will you make me some eggs, to make up for it?"

"Make up for what? I didn't do anything!" she continued staring at him, he sighed and put down the coffee jug, "Fine, what kind of eggs?" he sighed,

"I like scrambled eggs," she replied, smiling widely,

"Ooooh scramble egg!" Zipporah shouted, spitting cheerios everywhere, "Yes!" she turned to look at him too. He sighed again as he reached into a cupboard to get out a pan.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that not much is going to go my way next week." he grumbled as he turned back to look at the girls, who were both grinning happily back at him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Tony was walking across the bullpen to see if Ziva was ready to go home on Friday evening when he overheard her talking on the phone. Well, yelling on the phone,**

"**I UNDERSTAND THAT BUT. . ." she paused as the other person spoke, "I AM NOT" her voice suddenly dropped, "I am not shouting I am merely trying to get you to **

**understand that I am going on Tuesday and she must come with me." she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Yes doctor and as I said I do realise that but **

**you have had her body for WEEKS and I did inform Dr Jones of my plans; it is not my fault that he forgot to sign the release forms before he left for his cabin. What **

**I do not understand is why you cannot simply sign on his behalf, you have his report . . ." there was another break in conversation and he leant on the edge of her **

**desk smiling as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I do not know how much clearer I can be, she must be on that flight on Tuesday, her funeral has already been **

**organised and we just . . . We just cannot wait any longer. . . " her voice wavered slightly and she leant forwards, hiding her face from Tony. He reached out and **

**gently squeezed her shoulder instinctively, "Well yes that would be perfect, thank you doctor," the conversation ended abruptly and she slumped back in her chair **

**letting out an exasperated scream. "Uh, I don't understand, it is like some people go out of their way to make life difficult for other people!" **

"**Problems sweet cheeks?" he smiled calmly back at her,**

"**Did you hear that? I have been on the phone to that stupid man for fifteen minutes! He is the relief coroner and he told me that Dr Jones forgot to sign the release **

**forms for Hannah before he left for a weeks holiday so then I asked why he could not do it and he said that he could not possibly sign over a body he had not **

**examined." she put on a pompous tone imitating the doctor which made Tony smile again, "Anyway after quarter of an hour of arguing he finally tells me that he **

**can simply fax the forms to DR Jones and have him sign them. FIFTEEN MINUTES! He could have said that in the beginning! Stupid man!" she slammed her hands **

**down on her desk and Tony chuckled slightly at her annoyance, "WHAT? What is funny Tony? Nothing is funny!" she snapped at him, glaring furiously. Tony leapt **

**up from the desk and stepped back to what he considered a safe distance.**

"**No nothing's funny," he plastered a serious expression onto his face for a few seconds until she softened slightly and leant back again,**

"**Sorry Tony, I did not mean to snap at you I was just . . . Frustrated."**

"**Yeah I know, but at least that's all sorted out now huh? Come on let's go," he reached out his hand to her and she took it allowing him to pull her to her feet, **

**"Let's go out for dinner." he suggested as she picked up her bag, **

"**Alright, there is nothing to eat at home anyway." she replied and slung her bag over her shoulder while Tony grinned, thrilled to hear her describe his flat as **

**"home". They strolled towards the lift quietly until Tony suddenly exclaimed;**

"**Oh let's go back to that barbeque place!"**

"**Again? That is the only place we ever go!" Ziva replied unenthusiastically as they waited for the doors to open.**

"**I know but they have the best sauce EVER." he stared at her hopefully,**

"**Tony, I do not want to spend another evening watching you consume an entire chicken." she sighed,**

"**Hey, I went out with a woman who thought that was sexy," Ziva snorted and frowned at him in disbelief, "Said it showed I was a . . ." he paused, momentarily in **

**thought, "Yeah she was a bit weird." **

"**Uh-huh, well Tony of all the things you do eating a whole farmyard or, **_**mighty mix grill**_** is definitely not one of the sexiest." she laughed as they stepped into the lift, **

"**Ohhh . . . So you think I do things that are sexy Zee-vaaah?" he spun round to face her raising an eyebrow and grinning suggestively. She smiled stepped towards **

**him, raising her head up until it was just centimetres from his ear,**

"**Well Tony, there is the way you pick out of your ears when you think that no body is looking or the way you drool when you are sleeping. They really drive me **__

_**wild**_**." she giggled and turned away from him as the lift bumped to a stop.**

"**Hey! So sometimes my ears get itchy so what everyone's do!" He glared at her, "And I do not drool!" **

"**Yes, yes you do Tony. It is uhhmm gross, yes, gross." she laughed while they headed out to the corridor.**

"**Yeah, well you're not perfect either you know!" He retorted grumpily,**

"**Oh yes? In what way?" **

"**You pick your nails, all the time drives me CRAZY! And, you know I wasn't going to bring this up but you asked for it-you fart in bed." Ziva punched his shoulder **

**and he yelped and grabbed it,**

"**I DO NOT!" she shouted as he laughed and rubbed his arm,**

"**Eh yeah you do Ziva, it's pretty disgusting I gotta say." she frowned at him as they headed towards his car. After a few moments of silence Tony slung his arm **

**across her shoulders, "Awwww come on thunderpants don't be upset, it happens to the best of us! What about if we go someplace else for dinner, will you talk to **

**me again?" **

"**You know Tony, I actually feel like a pizza." she replied when they reached the car,**

"**Well a pizza's always ok with me, but are you sure, all that cheese? Could make you gassy." He laughed and grinned cheekily at her across the roof of the **

**mustang, she started glowering at him again but soon her face cracked a grin of its own,**

"**Well if it does it will be your problem Tony." she laughed as she ducked inside.**

**By Monday night Ziva was already for her trip to Israel and was sitting on the sofa with Zipporah curled up on her knee, her arms wrapped around Ziva's waist **

**tightly. Ziva reached down and ran her hands through Zippy's hair gently, **_**"It's time for you to go to bed I think."**_

"_**You be here when I wake up?"**_** Zippy asked, her voice muffled against Ziva's chest,**

"_**No Zippy, remember I am going to Tel Aviv for a few days."**_

"_**But then you come back?"**_** Zippy sat up and fixed her wide brown eyes on Ziva's.**

"_**Yes, I'm coming back in a few days honey, I get back very, very late on Friday so I'll see you on Saturday."**_

"_**Promise?" **_

"_**Yes, I promise I'm coming back!"**_** Ziva stared back at her, bemused.**

"_**Mummy went away and now she doesn't come back anymore," **_**Zippy's lip quivered slightly as she spoke. Ziva let out a long sigh and clasped the little girl's **

**face in her hands.**

"_**I know but I'm not going where mummy went, I can come back and I will."**_** A couple of tiny tears spilled out of Zippy's eyes and she used her thumbs to gently **

**wipe them away.**

"_**Remember, we don't cry because mummy likes to see us happy. She doesn't like it when we're happy." **_**Zippy nodded and sniffed before leaning forward and **

**burying her face in Ziva's neck, clutching her tightly with chubby arms.**

"_**How many sleeps 'til you come home?"**_

"_**Well, tomorrow, then Wednesday Thursday and Friday how many is that?"**_** after a few seconds of thought a Zippy whispered her reply.**

"_**four,"**_

"_**Exactly! Well done you worked it out quicker than me!"**_** Ziva exclaimed causing the little girl to giggle quietly. **_**"Will I read you a story now?" **_

"_**yes please,"**_** Zippy mumbled as Ziva stood up, holding onto her tightly as they past the kitchen where Leora was doing her homework while Tony flicked through **

**her magazine. They looked up and said goodnight to Zippy, once they had past Leo looked up at him and said,**

"**Zippy is scared of Ziva going away, she is worried she might not come back." **

"**Yeah I know," Tony sighed, "I guess we'll just have to phone her a lot you know, let Zippy know she's still around. Or try and keep her mind off it. Oh hey I think **

**there's a carnival coming sometime this week. I'll check it out and we could go! There was a poster up outside the nursery it's got all kinds of stuff like little shows **

**and a big wheel and things!" Leora flashed him a cynical look,**

"**Is this to distract Zippy or because you want to have a go on a merry-go-round?" she laughed at his enthusiasm.**

"**It was just a suggestion!" he muttered sulkily.**

"**Yeah I know, I am sorry it is a nice idea I'm sure she would like it." Leora smiled at him before her eyes dropped back to her page while she twisted her pen **

**round and round in her hands. Tony watched her a few minutes before breaking the silence,**

"**What about you. . . Are you ok Leo?" she sighed and let the pen drop from her fingers,**

"**Yes, yes I am ok." she bit her lip, "It is just, I don't know. IT feels strange; mum going back home without me, that I will not be at her . . . **_**funeral." **_**her voice **

**faded and she rested her head in her hands.**

"**I know it's hard but you know it has to be this way."**

"**I know, I know, if I go Ziva might not be allowed to take me back out of the country. I just, it still does not feel real. I still wake up sometimes thinking mum is still **

**around, if I went to the funeral it might make it more final. It sounds silly saying it. . . "**

"**No it doesn't, that's what a funeral is for, saying goodbye." Tony interrupted quietly.**

"**I suppose so, I just . . . Well in the end this is the way it has to be so it is pointless to wonder what it would be like to go." She said, her voice steely with **

**determination. She looked up at him and smiled uncertainly,**

"**Hey, you know what would make you feel better?" Tony asked gently,**

"**A go on the big wheel?" she chuckled quietly,**

"**Well I was going to say balloon elephant but hey if you want the big wheel you can have the big wheel!" she looked at him questioningly. "There's gonna be a **

**balloon artist there too!" he explained quickly as she shook her head and grabbed the magazine back from him, still giggling softly. **

**It had taken forever to get Zipporah to sleep - every time Ziva had stood up to leave, confident she had finally dozed off she whimpered, and called out for her to **

**return. By the time she finally got to go to bed herself she found Tony already sleeping soundly. She felt strangely disappointed when she found him snoring softly; **

**she had wanted to speak to him before she left and since her flight was at six it was unlikely she's see him in the morning. She sighed and clambered into bed next **

**to him and wriggled under the covers. She lay quietly for a few minutes before stealing a look at him, every morning when she woke up he always had his arms **

**around her and although she tried to ignore it she knew that deep down she liked it. She never mentioned it to him and really, she wasn't even sure he realised **

**that it happened. She fought with herself for a short while before deciding that he was asleep, he would never know if she rolled closer to him. She shimmied **

**across the bed until her arm touched his, she could feel his thick dark hair tickling her gently as she settled down to sleep. After a further couple of minutes she **

**sighed, she still wasn't comfortable so she bit the bullet and rolled over, still convinced he wouldn't know. She threw her arm across his chest and slipped her leg **

**over his before nuzzling her face against his chest. She breathed deeply, his familiar scent relaxed as did his gentle warmth as it radiated across her whole body, **

**closing her eyes she sighed contentedly.**


	13. Chapter 13

Hey! dunno what the deal was with the last chapter vis a vis the formatting, my formatting always seems to be a bit off, I dunno why cause it always looks fine on my computer! Anyways not sure why it came out all bold and wide but hey let's hope it works this time! oh and thanks for alll the reviews 50 i'm so pleased!!!

* * *

Ziva's alarm erupted to life dragging her out of sleep, she attempted to reach out to turn it off but struggled to move because Tony was sprawled across her, pinning her tightly to the bed . She stretched her arm towards the bedside table but the alarm suddenly fell silent as it switched into sleep mode so she allowed her arm to drop back down. She shut her eyes for a few more seconds before Tony snuffled against her ear bringing a sleepy smile to her face, she nuzzled him gently breathing in deeply before wrenching herself out from underneath him. She quietly showered and got dressed; once all ready to leave she paused for a minute to consider waking him. Ziva wanted to have a quick word before she left, just to remind him what time Zippy had to be dropped of at nursery or what day Leo needed her gym kit and, well, to say goodbye. Tony was star fished on the bed, sound asleep looking so peaceful she decided to just leave him be; he wouldn't appreciate her waking him up just to nag him.

A couple of hours later she was waiting in the departures lounge sipping out her coffee and flicking through a paper. She was surrounded by people who were struggling to stay awake, dozing off into their coffee cups, she had been amused for a while watching them snap their heads up every time an announcement went out before drooping again, Bu now that that game had become boring again and she was bored, she had become used to busy mornings dragging Leora out of bed or cajoling Tony and Zippy to get going. Suddenly her flight was called so she dumped her paper cup in the bin and strolled towards her gate, pulling out her phone as she went. She was surprised to see she'd received a message a few minutes earlier.

**Hey Z, sorry I never saw you this morning you must have used your ninja skills not to wake me but they don't work on Zippy! She came in here just after you left, man this kid is all elbows and feet! Call us when you land, T **

She smiled and chuckled before texting back,

**You sleep like a tree, I could have jumped all over you and still you would be asleep! At least if she is in bed with you she will get you up on time, will call about to board give my love to the girls, Z **

Tony's phone beeped when her reply arrived, he opened it and grinned, Zippy rolled over to look up at him.

"Is morning pickle" she stated matter of-factly, he groaned and slumped deep into the mattress,

"No it's not, not yet Zippy it's still night time," she furrowed her brows at him before shaking her head firmly.

"No, sunny-is morning."

" Five minutes, just five." he mumbled sleepily, Zippy frowned at him before her features softened and she agreed,

"k, five" she raised her hand and spread her fingers out in an ominous manner, when she said five minutes she meant it. Tony sighed and shut his eyes, feeling her shuffle closer to his chest and pressing her back up against him so he wrapped his arm around her and held her tightly. They lay quietly for a while, Tony happily dozing while Zippy ran her fingers up and town his arm,, dragging her fingers lazily through his hairs. Suddenly she rolled over but he kept his eyes shut, hoping she would just settle back down but soon he felt her finger press against his nose. He flicked his eyes open and stared down at her,

"What are you doing?" she started prodding all over his cheeks and down towards his chin, grinning cheekily as she poked his skin. She reached his mouth and pulled down his lip, he growled and lunged at her, pretending to try and bite her finger. She shrieked and pulled back her hands, giggling loudly as she did so,

"I am not getting up yet! Leave me alooone" he whined,

"Uh k" Zippy pouted but his eyes were closed again so he couldn't see. Foiled, she slumped back down into his arms, another short while past until she spoke again, "Where Zizi?" Tony opened his eyes and glanced down at her,

"She's gone to Israel for a little while Zip, you know that," he replied softly.

"Gone home?"

"Yes but just for a few days, "

"Many sleeps?" she mumbled, reaching out to pull at his t-shirt,

"Four sleeps, just four that's not many." he said reassuringly,

"Is lots"she disagreed

"We'll speak to her later, on the phone."

"Speak now," Zippy demanded, still tugging gently,

"We can't just now, she's in a plane," Zippy looked at him, confused,

"Plane?" Tony smiled and raised one of hands up to fly it through the air while making engine noises,

"You know, a plane-it's like a big car in the sky, you came here in one."

"Ohhh, a planes" her face cracked into a wide smile before it fell again, "Zizi go Israel then back ok?"

"Yeah that's right."

"'romise?" her voice wavered so he replied to reassure her,

"Yeah, she's away for four days then she will be back ok?" Zippy nodded and flung her arms around him, burying her face against his chest,

"Pickle stay here?" she asked, clinging to him tightly. Tony smiled and wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her even closer,

"Yeah, I'm staying right here." he felt her relax slightly but still she did not let go, cuddling up close. Finally she spoke again,

"Want 'pakes for breakfast pease" her voice muffled but he could still make it out, he smiled and stroked her hair,

"Zippy, I don't think there is time for pakes on a nursery day,"

"Is if wake up now!" she raised her head and rested it on her hand, grinning smiling smugly at him. He glanced at the clock, she was right if he got up now he would have time to make pancakes.

"Uh fine, pakes it is-but JUST FOR TOFAY" he leant forward and pressed his forehead against hers so that there eyes were just centimetres apart.

"Uh-huh today." she repeated, still smiling broadly. He rolled out of bed and stumbled towards the door "Pickle, Pickle, Pickle!" she called him and he turned to see her reaching out her arms towards him. He rolled his eyes and stepped back towards the bed, raising his own arms up until he was close enough for her to leap across to his waiting hands. She settled down against him, staring up with her big brown eyes and when he glanced down at her he realised with a sinking feeling that he could deny her nothing and that she was WELL aware of it.

Many hours later and several time zones away Ziva's flight had landed and she was dragging herself through the airport exit, she had had to wait for ages for the funeral company to come and collect Hannah which added on to the long haul flight had just served to put her into a foul mood. She had organised the funeral for early the next day and was desperately wanting a bath and bed but she still had to cross town to get to her hotel. Usually she stayed with her father when in Tel Aviv but she had decided that was one stress she could do without, making small talk with him over breakfast was the last thing she wanted to do. Once she was settled into a taxi she flipped open her phone and dialled,

"DiNozzo,"

"Hello Tony,"

"Hey, was just about to phone you-thought you'd forgotten about us."

"I had not forgotten, I was delayed at the airport they were late to collect Hannah," she replied sharply,

"Oh . . . Ok . . . So, how was the flight?"

"I am sorry, I did not mean to snap at you Tony-it was a long flight." she could hear a sudden burst of activity in the background followed by a peal of Leora's laughter. "What is going on there?" she chuckled,

"Uhhh, I'm not really sure," Tony turned to glance through to the girls, "Yeah I dunno but nobody's hurt so I'm happy."

"Hmmmm I am gone less than one day and it sounds like chaos!"

"Well it seems I don't quite have your authority, or death stare!" he retorted jokingly, "What time is it there?"

"uhm 01:00 hours, I am still on my way to the hotel."

"Oh man you must be like, exhausted, have you eaten?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern, she smiled at this before answering,

"Yes, do not worry-I had a sandwich during the flight."

"One sandwich is not enough! You're gonna waste away to nothing!" she laughed at his melodramatics

"I doubt that Tony, how are the girls?"

"Well, Leo's fine but Zipporah was a bit upset this morning, all these questions about where you are, when you're back and am I staying here?"

"Hmmm I suppose that she is just confused and insecure how is she now?"

"I dunno-I made her some pancakes and after that she seemed to perk up a lot."

"Pancakes? On a school day?" she replied in mock shock,

"Well, she woke me up in the middle of the freaking night; I was up so early I could have made a three course meal!" He exploded over the phone,

"You always get so grumpy when you don't get enough sleep," she teased playfully,

"Hey!" he started off but was interrupted by Zippy pulling on his trouser leg,

"is Zizi?" Ziva could make out the little girls eager voice in the background"

"Hey Ziva, Zippy wants to talk to ya but ill speak to you tomorrow ok? I hope it goes ok"

"Thank you, yes I'll call again."

"Good ok here she is bye"

"Bye," she said but he had already past the phone over.

Forty minutes later, having checked in, Ziva was finally walking down a corridor towards her room. Her head was fuzzy with exhaustion as she swung the door open and reached out to find a light switch, but the lights were already on. She instantly was on guard, dropping her bag where she stood and reaching for her knife. She crept further into the room and peering round the corner she saw a figure relaxing in one of the chairs. She felt her stomach sink as she recognised the face smiling sinisterly at her, sighing she greeted him with distain,

"What do want Omri?" she practically growled at him.

"My children," he replied simply.


	14. Chapter 14

"Is that right?" she raised her eyebrow incredulously, "Your daughters have been living with me for months and yet you have NOT ONCE tried to contact them. Not even when their mother, your wife, died." Omri sighed and crossed his legs.

"It was hard for me to get in touch, I assure you that I have repeatedly attempted to contact my daughters but you have been keeping them from me. How cruel, to separate them from their father during this most distressing time." his voice was calm and dripping with sarcasm as he spoke. Ziva snorted and shook her head,

"You know Omri, I always hated you, for how you destroyed Hannah, how you treated Leora and Zipporah," she started advancing on him menacingly, "Because you are slimy, self centred and delusional." She spat her words at him but he just smiled patronisingly, so she continued, "You trapped Hannah when she was vulnerable and then sucked her dry, you crushed her until there was nothing left, I would have . . ."

"She was my wife! I loved her very much how dare you!"

"You loved the power , you did not love her, how could you by the time you were finished with her there was nothing left she was . . . She was just a shell." she paused, trying to control her emotions, she did not want him to realise how much pain she was in,

"Oh, you're not going to cry are you? How sweet, I always knew that you were weak." his voice slithered through the air but his words caused her to burst out laughing,

"You don't see it do you?" she stepped closer once again until she was right in front of him and then bent down so their eyes met, "You. Are. Nothing." she hissed in his face, "You have nothing, you are no one." he chuckled nervously,

"You think so? Do you think I got where I am by being nothing?" he regained his composure and grinned at her smugly, she ignored him and continued

"You know, you are so pathetic Omri, I pity you." she stood up and strolled across to the fridge to get out a bottle of water, "I mean look at you." he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"You sneak into my hotel room in the middle of the night to intimidate me, why? So I will hand over your daughters, well their trust funds." she took a long drink out of her water while waiting for his response, he stared back at her uncertainly,

"You think I need them?" he replied cautiously

"I don't think, I know you do. Hannah left you nothing." Omri stared at her for a few seconds.

"Their trust funds are not everything, we have properties and . . ."

"Do you think that I don't know?" she said in disbelief, "Did you think that you could come here and scare me into abandoning the girls?" she laughed and leant against the dressing table, "Frankly, you should count yourself lucky that I have allowed you to stay n the house this long."

"What? You do not ALLOW me to stay in my own house!" He leapt to his feet, his eyes burning furiously at her but Ziva merely stared coolly back at him,

"You are right, I have allowed you stay in my house." she took another casual sip of water, enjoying watching his brain helplessly spin as he tried to work out what was going on, "You did not think to look through things carefully Omri? Even after you learned of the trust funds? You are unbelievable!" she shook her head, laughing loudly. He looked bewildered before his face returned to the steely expression she was used to.

"What are you talking about, her will never mentioned the house, it was ours!"

"No, it was Hannah's family home, it never belonged to you-you just thought you owned her." she paused again, taking a sadistic satisfaction in witnessing the panic rush through him, "It was never mentioned in the will because she signed it over to me before she died."

"No, no that's not right." he shook his head, not able to comprehend what she was saying, "You're lying, I would know, I should know!"

"Well if you had bothered to check properly then you would but you were too stupid to do so, did you think that she would never disobey you? Never go behind your back?"

"You are a liar, tomorrow I will talk to my lawyer, if this were true he would have notified me . . ." Ziva sighed and stood up straight again,

"Your lawyer was Hannah's, he was a very close friend of her father's-you know this they helped you out a lot did you not with your . . . Career," she glanced up and down him dismissively, "Do you really think he would have put you before her?"

"But . . ." he opened his mouth but she raised her hand,

"No Omri, we are finished taking,"

"Oh I don't think so . . ." he brandished his finger in her face, his face swollen with rage but she just leant towards him,

"Perhaps I was not clear, get out-now." she hissed.

"We are not done here-you will not get away with this!"

"I didn't do anything, it is not my fault that you repulsed your family so much they could no longer to stand to be on the same continent as you." they stood facing each other for a few tension filled seconds before a menacing grin spread across Omri's face.

"Well, that may well be, but soon they will be back here-to be with their father. You will never get to keep them." his words sliced through her but she kept her face frozen still,

"They will be staying with me." she replied firmly.

"Well, maybe if you were . . . No longer around then that would change."

"Oh, are you threatening to have me killed?" she laughed and turned away from him,

"Well, it is not hard to make problems disappear Ziva." he spoke calmly, confident that he had retaken the power but suddenly she spun back around and lunged towards him, squaring up so that her face was just centimetres from his,

"You should think carefully about who you are threatening," she hissed back at him before piercing his chest with her finger, pushing him back slightly, "The only reason that you are still alive is that Hannah did not want me to kill you" she prodded him again, advancing further, "But now, she is gone so you should be showing much, much better judgement." her whole body was shaking with rage while he stood rooted to the spot, caught off guard at the sudden switch in positions. "You have two days to get out of the house." she spat before moving away from him and wrenching open the door, he walked towards her, pausing give her a deathly stare,

"This isn't over Ziva." he whispered before finally stepping into the corridor. She slammed the door and locked it before shakily crossing the room and flopping onto the bed. She curled up into a ball, wrapping her quivering hands around her knees-she had been taken by surprise by his presence. Omri brought out an almost uncontrollable anger in her, she had never felt such an absolute and complete burning hatred for anyone other than him. The mere thought of him made her skin crawl in disgust, no one was able to push her as close to the edge as he could, there had been so many times when she had come perilously close to tearing him to shreds for something he had done or said. All that had stopped her was Hannah's pleas. "No he's my husband, he loves me, he doesn't mean to, he's the father of my children etc etc," she had heard them all. Of course, now Hannah was gone, there was nothing to stop her.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning Tony was sitting unsuspectingly on the sofa with Zipporah when Leo sauntered in carrying a couple of sheets of paper. "Tony?" he looked up from the TV,

"Yeah?"

"Ehm, I am not sure if Ziva told you, I do not know if she even remembers about it since she has had so much on her mind and I did not want to pressurise her."

"What is it?"

"Well I am going on a camp with school, to Shenandoah for geography, we got some more forms for our . . . To be signed." she bit her lip and looked down at them, "So I was wondering if you could sign them?"

"Uh sure, I guess you're living in my house so I guess I count as a guardian" he smiled, "Jeez I thought you were gonna ask me something serious there." he leant forwards to take the forms from her, he signed them and handed them back but she remained standing in front of her.

"Um, there is something else."

"okaay." he frowned at her slightly,

"Well . . .We are going on Saturday morning."

"Oh right."

"Uhm well we did buy some things for me going but well . . . You know the fire." there was an uncomfortable silence until he broke it,

"So you need to go shopping for some new stuff, well I guess once I get back tonight we could go to the late night . . ."

"Actually, my friends and I were thinking of going shopping after school-if that is alright." she looked at him hopefully,

"Well yeah I guess so."

"Thanks, the thing is . . . I do not have any . . .money."

"Ooh I see, thought you'd shake me down for a little kickback huh?" she frowned at him in confusion,

"I am not shaking you Tony, or kicking you"

"That's not what they mean they're like, figures of speech meaning . . ." he paused before changing his mind, explaining them was to much brain work for this time of the morning so he sighed and continued, "So how much are you wanting?"

"Weeell . . .I don't really know how much my things will cost so I thought that maybe you could just give me your . . ."

"You want me to give you my credit card??"

"Yes, it just makes more sense! I promise I will not spend ALL your money . . ." she wheedled, giving him her most innocent expression.

"Pfff, I do NOT think so! How about I come meet you after work and pay for your stuff then, when I can see it!"

"What and drag Zippy around the shops? She hates shopping-trust me it would not be worth it!" at the sound of her name Zippy sat up and glanced between them,

"Zippy wha?" she asked so Leora turned and reiterated the conversation, the little girl turned to Tony and nodded her head emphatically,

"Hate shops, eugh!" she screwed up her face in disgust, "No come." Tony folded his arms and stared back at her for a moment before shrugging.

"Yeah well, she's like three-she doesn't get to choose, I'll just get her an ice cream or something she'll be fine." Zipporah had just lain back down on the cushions but instantly shot back up,

"Ooooh scream!! Yes!" Tony grinned triumphantly,

"See, got her covered, so we'll just come and get you at the store then."

"Well if you want to, but I can not be sure that I will have chosen everything by then, you may have to wait around for a while. You, Zippy with ice cream, or complaining that she wants one, or is bored, me, my four friends. MY four teenage girl friends, out shopping. I am sure that seems like a fun time for you yes? Maybe you will join us for dinner!" Tony considered her description for a few moments before leaning back against the sofa and cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Hmmmm, well played," she smirked smugly as he reached into his pocket for his wallet and selected one of his cards, he past it over to her and she grinned happily.

"Thank you Tony! I promise, I will not go crazy. Just the essentials!" he narrowed his eyes at her

"Yeah, I'll bet." he suddenly noticed the time and stood up, "Zip, go and get your coat, we gotta go." Zippy hopped off the sofa and ran through to her room returning almost instantly wearing her jacket with the hood over her head, holding onto the edges to make them into wings. She swooped towards the door with Tony close behind her, chuckling at her as he went.

"Do not worry Tony, I will be careful with your card and see you later!" Leo called as he was exiting, he turned to Leo and made a V with his fingers, pointing at each of his eyes before pointing his index at her and menacingly whispering,

"Yeah you'd better, I'm watching you." he repeated the gesture several times as he backed out the door. A split second later he burst back in, "And you'd better be going to school-not skipping to go shopping!"

"I am going do not worry!" she held up the forms, "I have to hand in these," she smiled sweetly at him.

"Yeah, well, you'd better be going cause if ya don't, I'll know, I will, I'll know! Well ok, Ziva'll know-she'll know when she gets back!" she raised her eyebrows at him and he turned to leave again but then spun back around. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, when my credit card bill comes I'll know if you went to school or not by the charges-I can check the times HA!" he stamped his foot and brandished a finger at her like a six year old who had won an argument. Leora just rolled her eyes at him,

"Tony, I am going to school relax!" He deflated visibly before straightening up and grinned,

"Great, see ya later then." and abruptly left leaving Leo smiling to herself.

Meanwhile Ziva was sweltering in the oppressive heat, although Washington was hot it was very different from the burning dry heat of Tel Aviv. Hannah's funeral was winding to a close, she could remember nothing about it-her mind was fuzzy with grief. Random memories kept popping up into her head of their childhoods together, the games they had played, the plans they had made for their future, all the times Ziva had returned home to her welcoming embrace after a traumatic mission. She never asked any questions but Ziva always told her everything-she was the one person in the world who knew how every little cog in her brain turned, what experiences had made her the way she was. Hannah could look past the Mossad assassin and just see Ziva, the girl who had taught her to swim and ride a bike, who always got the leading role in school plays because she could sing and dance more beautifully than anyone else. Even though no one ever came to watch her. Ziva stared straight ahead, she had been to many funerals but this was one she had never expected to attend, always assuming that she would be the first of the two of them to die. It had been a twisted comfort to her, knowing that for all the horrific things she witnessed or did she would always have Hannah. But now she was gone and there was no one left, no one who knew Ziva. She was so lost in thought she hadn't noticed that people had started to leave, she only realised when a shadow loomed behind her,

"Shalom Ziva," she spun round in surprise but instantly relaxed,

"Shalom, Benjamin." the old man leant forward to kiss her cheeks gently,

"I'm sorry," he leant back and stared deep into her eyes, after a few moments he took her arm and they started to walk out together. "So . . .I gather you've spoken with our friend Omri." he said dryly.

"He was waiting for me in my room, I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have told him everything I know about the will."

"It's ok, he phoned me up in the middle of the night yelling about this and that, he is suing you for everything he can think of apparently, the house, the girls, the money,"

"Can he do that?"

"Ha, not using my services he can't," Benjamin barked with laughter as they strolled along, "I told him that I represent the Alayon family and that as far as I'm concerned he is no longer part of that family and that my duty now is to represent the interests of Leora and Zipporah. So now he is suing me too." he laughed again. Ziva watched their feet scuff across the dusty pavement as they walked,

"So, can he sue me using another lawyer?"

"Well he can try I suppose, there is not much he can do about the house as he never had any claim on it, it has been in the family for years and if Hannah wanted to give it to you that was her choice. He can allege you coerced her but I doubt that will be entertained for long." he paused and licked his lips, "The girls . . . Are a different matter, he can fight for custody and knowing his character he will as they're his only access to the money., unless he contests the will but it is unlikely he could win that case whereas he does have a legitimate case for custody of his daughters." Ziva stopped and turned to face him,

"Will he win?"

"It is not as straight forward is that, yes he is their father but the mother wanted them to stay with you, with that and character witnesses of Omri and testimonies from the girls and we could make a strong case."

"Benjamin, I need to know what you think our chances are so that I can perhaps consider other options." he raised his eyebrows,

"he has a good chance, I can't lie. They are Israeli citizens, it could be hard enough to persuade the courts to place them outside the country little own away from their father. However it is far from a done deal we can fight and win this." he paused for a second, "Other options . . .may not be good idea, if something were to happen to Omri-say he were to disappear-it would look very, very suspicious Ziva. You must not do something rash which you may regret."

"I don't know what you mean Benjamin." she replied coolly as they began walking again.

"Of course not,"

"Although . . . I doubt it would be something which I would regret. I suspect it would be extremely satisfying. " He chuckled quietly and squeezed her arm

"Perhaps, but I still would not approve." Ziva smiled and fell quiet, thinking things over in her head.

"What if I came back to Israel? Would I stand a better chance then?"

"You would consider that?"

"If you think it could help my case." They had reached his car and came to a halt, he pulled out the keys and spun them around his fingers for a minute,

"It could help a bit I suppose, but I think we should wait a while before we make any drastic decisions. Stability for the girls is a major factor you know, if we can show you are providing them with a safe environment and good care then that could help us even more. Perhaps I seemed a little pessimistic before, there is no reason to worry unduly at the moment." he reached out for her hands and squeezed them, " it is far from a lost cause" he smiled encouragingly at her and she nodded. Can I give you l lift back to your hotel?"

"No, no I think I would like to walk, thank you."

"Ok, I will see you this afternoon then at my office for the formal reading yes? I am not sure Omri will turn up since he now knows all the details anyway, perhaps I will just take you out for dinner instead!" he smiled and leant forwards to kiss her cheek again, Ziva smiled,

"Yes, I'll see you later."

"Shalom," he got into his car and drove off, leaving Ziva alone on the pavement..

It took her forty minutes to walk back to the hotel, in hindsight she had been foolish to walk in the blistering heat of midday but she had needed some time alone with her thoughts. She stepped through the doors into the foyer and gasped as she felt the welcome cool of the air conditioning as it swept across her glistening skin. She was making her way towards the lift when she heard someone shout her name. She spun round to find an older couple standing up from a sofa in the corner.

"Ziva," the woman called again as she struggled to her feet. Ziva walked towards them, recognising them as Omri's parents.

"Mrs and Mr Peled, hello." she said uncertainly as she reached them.

"Hello dear, ehm we were so sad to hear about Hannah." Omri's mother said, her eyes welling up with genuine emotion as she grasped Ziva's hand. "I can honestly say that she was better than our son ever deserved."

"Yes she was." Ziva replied bluntly, Mr Peled looked down at the floor uncomfortably and dropped her hand.

"Uhm we were at the funeral, I don't know if you saw us, we were at the back-we weren't sure if we would be welcome." she paused and fiddled nervously with her handbag, "We were waiting to speak to you but then we saw you talking to the lawyer so we found out where you were staying and decided to just wait for you here." she stopped and looked back up at Ziva expectantly as her husband cleared his throat,

"We were wondering if we might buy you some lunch, we have some things we need to discuss." Ziva's heart sank, she had had enough of discussions for today, she wanted to have a cool shower and a nap before going to Benjamin's but she found herself agreeing anyway, interested to hear what they had to say.

Five minutes later they were sitting in the hotel bar, having ordered their food they settled down to business. "How are the girls?" Mrs Peled asked anxiously. "Where are they? Did you take them here?"

"No, I didn't take them here, I was worried that I would not be allowed to take them back out of the country." the Peleds nodded vigorously, "They are back in D.C with my partner, we had to move in with him after the fire."

"Yes, yes we thought that might be a problem, getting them back out of Israel, how are they coping?"

"They are . . . Ok. Zipporah is a little insecure-she was not happy about me leaving at all but she is very close to Tony, my partner. Leora was obviously very upset at the time . . . She had a little emotional episode but she is ok now, Tony's mother died when he was her age so he had a talk with her-it seemed to calm her down very well."

"That's good, we're very glad that they are being well looked after. We have not seen them for over a year." Mrs Peled's voice wavered slightly and her husband reached out for her hand and took over the talking,

"Our son, he did not like us being around-it reminded him to much of where he had come from, you know we are humble people. He stopped us going to the house but Hannah found out that she was taking the girls to visit us. He was furious when he found out, we were worried about what he would do. We begged her to leave him but she refused, she said she would wait a while and then start visiting us again but we said no. We did not want to be the cause of him losing his temper. We thought it was safer that way." he shook his head, "I can't believe I am talking about my own son, I can't believe I raised him to become . . . What he is." Ziva softened slightly and leant forwards, resting her arms on the table and looking into his eyes,

"It is not your fault, Hannah always spoke highly of you. Some people are just born bad, there's nothing that can be done about that." his lips twitched slightly, almost smiling until they fell again, his wife's head shot back up,

"Hannah spoke highly of us? I thought she was angry at us for telling her to stop coming."

"She never really saw Omri the way everyone else does, she never viewed him as being dangerous, not until just before she left him. You were right though, when you told her to stop coming it was for the best. In fact, it was one of the jolts which eventually lead her to consider leaving him." Mrs Peled smiled at this and silence descended over them for a while as they drank.

"It is good that your partner likes the girls, how long have you been with him?" Mrs Peled asked after placing her glass back down.

"Five years."

"Five years?!? And you are not yet married? Engaged perhaps?" Ziva furrowed her brows in confusion,

"What? Oh! No he's my partner at work, we aren't together!" she laughed uncomfortably while the other woman blushed furiously,

"Oh my I am so sorry! When you said you all moved in with him I just assumed!"

"That's ok, I wasn't very clear."

"Are you going to keep the girls." Mr Peled abruptly interjected, easing his wife's embarrassment, Ziva was slightly caught of guard and hesitated slightly before replying,

"Yes, well I'm going to fight for them. Hannah left them to my care in her will." the couple nodded.

"Do you think Omri's going to fight you for custody?" Ziva sipped out of her glass, delaying her answer to give her a chance to think, she was suddenly suspicious of where this conversation was going.

"It's possible," she stared at them across the table but Mrs Peled shook her head,

"Oh no, we don't mean . . . what we're trying to say is that we miss our grandchildren and that . . ."

"What we are trying to say is that in return for regular contact with the girls, phone calls, e-mails or holidays, we will support your case if he challenges for custody." Ziva raised an eyebrow in surprise,

"Really? You would do that even though that could mean they would be in America."

"We never got to see them when they lived ten miles away, at least if they are in America they are not with our son. They are much better off with you." Mrs Peled said quietly reaching out to take Ziva's hand, "We just want to speak to them again. We miss them so much."


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi, mythsandllegends thanks for pointing out my little naming accident! I THOUGHT i'd given him a name i just couldn't remember what so i sort of scanned through it and never noiced it and just decided i must have not named him! anyways i don't know how to change it now so to clear up anyconfusion Hannah's husband's name is now Omri and I'm very sorry for being such a fool! had this mostly written last week but then took a while to post it cause i'm starting to think this story seems to be dragging out an awful lot, maybe that's just cause i'm writing it! anyway if you agree then let me know and i might try cutting bits out of future chapters thanks!  
**

* * *

Tony was lounging on the sofa with his feet up on the coffee table while Zipporah lay on the ground watching a cartoon. She suddenly stood up and padded towards him and clambering up onto his knee.

"Speak Zizi." Tony glanced at his watch and quickly tried to calculate the time in Tel Aviv, it was late but he thought she'd still be up so he pulled out his phone and dialled.

"Hello?" she sounded exhausted as she answered.

"Hey Ziva, how did it go today? How are you? You don't sound good."

"Huh, how charming."

"I'm just saying you sound tired! Showing some friendly concern!" Zippy knelt in his lap and tugged on his tie,

"Is Zizi? Me, me, me! Me talk!" she whined but he just waved his hand at her t keep her quiet for a minute.

"Well, I am fine. I am just tired am on my way back to my room now." Tony frowned checked his watch again ,

"Isn't it like one in the morning there?"

"Yes it is, I ended up having a long dinner with Hannah's lawyer, Omri did not come to the will reading so we just went through it ourselves. It was exactly as I expected so we went out and discussed the girls."

"So what'd he say? What's going to happen?"

"I, I am not sure-I will tell you everything later."

"Uhhhh, ok then-is there a problem?" but before Ziva could answer Zippy stood up on his knee and grabbed for the phone,

"Pease me!" he leant back out of her reach,

"Zippy reeeeaaaally wants to talk to you, I'll put her on." he passed the phone to the little girl and she plunked herself down onto is lap, snuggling her side into his chest.

"_Zizi?"_

"_Hi Zippy, how was your day?"_

"_When you coming back?"_ Zippy asked eagerly, ignoring her question.

"_I'm coming home very, very late on Friday night so you'll see me on Saturday morning ok?"_

"_How many sleeps?" _

"_Three sleeps, soon."_ she opened her room's door and dropped her bag on the floor, "_Guess who I spoke to today?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Grandma and Grandpa, remember you used to visit them with mummy?"_

"_Ooooh! Grandma made yummy things and, and, and there was a funny looking tree in their garden. And a skinny dog. Was sad when we stopped going there, mummy too."_

"_Well they were sad too, they gave me something's to give to you."_

"_PRESENTS!?!" _Ziva smiled and flopped down onto the bed,

"_Yes, presents-lots of them! And when I get home you can phone them to say thank you."_

"_K, phone grandma and grandpa. Leo will be very, very happy."_

"_IS Leo there?"_

"_No, she out."_

"_where is she?" _

"_No know," _Zippy looked up a Tony, "Where Leo?" he reached out for the phone but she clasped it to her chest and scowled at him, "NO, no finished, still speak!" She lifted the phone back to ear, keeping her eyes fixed on Tony in case he tried to snatch it from her, "_Leo's no home."_

"_Ok then, well I need to speak to Tony some more ok?"_

"_No, not ok, talk to me!" _Ziva laughed,

"_Come on Zippy, I'll phone you tomorrow ok?"_

"_ok, talk longer tomorrow?"_

"_Yes, we'll talk for a long time, I promise!"_

"_ok then, bye bye Zizi," _

"_Bye Zippy," Zipporah handed the phone back to Tony with a downcast expression before curling up into a ball and snuggling up against him again._

"Hey, I'm back." he said brightly.

"I was telling Zippy that I met her grandparents today."

"What? I thought they were dead?"

"No, Hannah's parents are, I met Omri's parents-they were waiting at the hotel after the funeral."

"What did they want?" he asked suspiciously,

"Well, they said they would support me if I end up fighting him for custody."

"Really? Wow that's great-that'd really help huh?"

"Maybe." she replied sounding unconvinced, "Where is Leora?"

"Shopping for her camp thing . . ." he was interrupted by Ziva cursing violently,

"I completely forgot! When is it next Saturday?"

"Well actually it's this Saturday but don't worry-everything's under control I gave her my credit card so she's off buying everything she needs . . ."

"You gave her your credit card? Well that was . . . Very trusting."

"Oh come on . . . It'll be fine."

"She may buy herself an RV- I am not sure she is suited for tent living Tony." Ziva teased him.

"Yeah well I trust her . .. Sort of."

"I am joking Tony, I am sure she will buy only the most sensible and cheapest items."

"Hmmmmmm, well let's hope so. So, anything else to tell me?" Ziva briefly considered admitting that Omri had been lying in wait for her but decided not to-he would just get worried.

"No, nothing else."

"Well ok, guess I'll speak to you tomorrow then." he paused and glanced down at Zippy who was still nestled up against him. "We all miss you ok?"

"I miss you too." she practically whispered before abruptly hanging up.

"Well, bye then." he said to the dialling tone before closing his mobile. He had only just shoved back in his pocket when it started ringing again.

"DiNozzo."

"Hi Tony."

"Hey Leo, how's it going? Get everything you need?"

"Yes I think so, are you busy right now?" Tony closed his eyes, suspecting what was coming next,

"No, not busy why?"

"Well, could you come and pick me up? Apparently, you need a lot of stuff to go camping and I can not get it all on the bus."

"How much stuff did you buy?" Tony's squeaked, bracing himself for her response.

"I told you, I bought only the essentials, honest!"

"Right ok, we're on our way hang tight."

Rolled off of her bed and trudged back across the room to pick up her bag, pulling out the folder Benjamin had given her at dinner. In it were reports he had found on a few custody battles similar to her situation, unsurprisingly there weren't many. She leafed through them again and sank down into a chair to study one further, it was not making her feel any more confident about the ordeal they were about to face. She had been unable to pin the affable lawyer down to a simple answer; would she win or not? But she wasn't sure if that was because he didn't want to upset her or build up her hopes of winning too much. Or maybe he just genuinely didn't know. She continued to study the folder's contents for a further fifteen minutes until her eyelids drooped and the words merged together to become squiggly black blurs. She slowly got ready for bed before sprawling across sheets, wanting to enjoy the gentle air conditioning gliding across her skin for a little while longer. She stared at the ceiling , running through the days events in her head, it amazed her that only this morning she had been sitting under the glaring sun at Hannah's funeral. It gave her a strange sense of calm that it was over, the finality of it was a welcome relief to the weeks of limbo, waiting for her to be released. But now that that was finished she had new worries to occupy her mind. Being away from Leo and Zippy had given her time to think more carefully over their situation - she hadn't realised how difficult it was to organise a family, she had only been looking after the girls for a short while and already she had messed it up. How could she have forgotten about Leora's camp? How? And then there was the incident with the boy, if Tony hadn't been there she would have had no idea how to handle the situation at all! They couldn't live with Tony forever, and then what would she do? How would she manage then with the two of them, with little Zipporah, so adorable but so utterly dependent on her. It frightened her to think about it, how much Zippy needed her, how desperately she was missing her while she was gone. She had never felt such a oppressive weight of responsibility before, even in her most dangerous missions. Raising children was a far bigger task than anything else she had ever taken on and one which she felt terrifyingly under-prepared for. She felt a twinge of guilt for thinking of the girls in this way, as though they were just burdens. She closed her eyes and sternly told herself that she had made a promise to Hannah, in fact she had promised Leora and Zipporah too, that she would take care of them and so that was what she had to do now, it was her duty. She tried to push the thoughts put of her mind as she slid under the bed sheets, hoping that once she got back to D.C her doubts would be quickly forgotten.


	17. Chapter 17

On Friday morning Ziva stepped out of a taxi and stared up at the imposing mansion which had been Hannah's family home. She paid the driver and ran her eyes over the exterior, the gardens were still being kept immaculate she could see-Omri did like to keep up appearances. She started towards the gate, it slid easily open without so much as a creak and she continued up the path. She had come to check he had left, but assumed he hadn't. He would never make it that easy for her, she was going to have to make him leave she was sure of it. She reached the door and paused hesitantly before ringing the doorbell. After waiting a few seconds she tried the handle and the door swung open so she stepped inside intrepidly. There was no sign of life in the house, no lights on, no radio or TV either, it was eerily silent. She instinctively reached for her gun, leaving her hand clutching it as she crept forwards, "Omri?" she called, her voice echoing in the cavernous hallway. There was no answer so she began creeping through the rooms, checking each one for any signs of life but everyone was empty. The last one she checked was Hannah and Omri's bedroom, she threw open the wardrobe doors to find all his clothes gone. He had actually left without a fight, just given up and slinked off. She backed towards the bed and sat down frowning, she hadn't expected this, this was definitely not his style, it was to simple-ominously so. Sighing Ziva stood up again and headed back down the corridor to his office and began trying drawer handles, the were all unlocked but they were also all empty so she slammed each one shut in frustration. She didn't know what he was planning, not even where he was which left her feeling prone and vulnerable to an unexpected attack. She would have to get one of her contacts to find out where he was and keep an eye on his movements and business, just to be sure. She glanced at her watch, she had booked a locksmith to come round and change all the locks, she didn't want him getting back in here. There was still a while until he was due to arrive as she had expected a more problematic morning so she strolled towards Leora's bedroom. It was painted a vibrant yellow and it glowed cheerfully in the morning sunshine, there were various photographs displayed on the dresser and shelves of Leo, Zippy, Hannah and even a few of herself. She began carefully removing them from the frames to make them easier to take back with her, in case Leo wanted them. She glanced around the room to see if there was anything else she might want but nothing leapt out at her, Leo had probably taken the most important things with her anyway. She went down stairs and sat down in the main sitting room, she had never spent much time in there before as whenever she came around they always either sat in the kitchen or in the smaller living room at the back. The room was so grand, when they had been little they had never been allowed to play in here and to this day the plush opulence made Ziva slightly uncomfortable but she didn't like being in any other parts of the house, they were too deeply bonded to Hannah, at least in here fewer memories came flooding back to her. She sat and stared at the pictures on the shelves, this was the show room, where Omri had his little cocktail parties and such so it was full of smiling family pictures, putting on a good front for his guests. Her eyes settled on a particularly large one, his face grinned slyly at her as she sat and stared at it, trying to work out what his plan was.

Later that evening Tony was reaching into the fridge for a beer when Leora came trudging in before throwing herself onto a stool and frowning grumpily. He slammed the door shut and turned and smiled cheerfully,

"All packed my little ray of sunshine?"

"I do not want to go anymore." his face dropped, thinking of the fortune of camping equipment strewn across her bedroom floor, would the store take it back? He quickly swallowed these thoughts taking in her dejected expression.

"Why not what's wrong?"

"Well, you know I was meant to be sharing a tent with Rhea, Lauren and Angie?" He didn't but nodded anyway, "Well, Lauren dos not like me very much . . ."

"WHY NOT??" Tony demanded, outraged.

"I am not sure, Rhea says it is because she is insecure because she thinks I am taking her place with Rhea and Angie,"

"Yeah well people make new friends all the time, and if she's like that no wonder the other two are looking for a replacement!" Leora smiled at his insistence before continuing,

"Yes I know, I have done nothing! Anyway, Rhea just phoned because she said that Lauren had just phoned her to say that she did not want to share a tent with me anymore because she heard that Jay had asked me to go to the school dance next month and she likes him."

"What? You can't help being prettier and more fun than she is!"

"I know! I did not even say yes because I knew it would just cause more problems."

"And also because you are far, far to young for that kind of thing." He interjected quickly, raising his eyebrows.

"Uh yes, that too, anyway, Rhea spoke to Angie and they both say that they are definitely not going to kick me out, Lauren is just being a witch but I think that it would just be easier if I stay here instead."

"What? And let her win? I don't think so!"

"But she has the tent!"

"So, we can go buy another tent and then you Rhea and Angie can sleep in it and tell Lauren to get lost." he suggested spitefully.

"I really do not think that is the answer Tony."

"Ok, Ok that would kinda make you look like the bitch, how about you just make her wet herself, y'know the old cold water warm water trick eh?"

"And that would NOT make me look like a bitch?" she raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, "People would still know that it was me"

"But it's just soooo funny!" she continued staring incredulously at him, "Oh Alright, alright maybe not then. . . Oh I know!" he leapt to his feet and pulled an almost empty jar of olives out of the fridge and poured the contents out into a bowl and proceeded to rinse it out. "What you do is you find a really, really, huge spider, I mean like a BEAST, up there you get ones you could take out on a leash, and put it in the jar and then, just before she goes to bed tip it into her sleeping bag. Trust me, it'll be HILARIOUS! And, she won't know it was you, for all she'll know it could have scuttled in there all on its own!" he grinned triumphantly and sat down, holding out the jar to her but she just laughed,

"Do you not think it is a bit strange that you are a grown man and are busy thinking up tricks teenage girls could play on each other?" He pouted at her sulkily,

"Fine, if you don't want my help I'll save my prankster genius for someone who appreciates it!" she grabbed for the jar before he could withdraw it,

"I did not sat I was not going to do it!" He smiled triumphantly at her just as a small bouncy ball came crashing into the room closely followed by a scurrying Zippy, he reached out his arm and caught her as she flew by, leaving the ball to bounce of the cupboard doors. She squealed as he dragged her up onto his knee.

"Ahh! Ball!"

"It's not going anywhere, shouldn't be playing with it inside anyway missy!" he pressed his finger against her little button nose as she giggled and tried to squirm out of his grip to get the ball. "I think its time to get your jammies on Zippy." she instantly froze as she heard the word jammies and looked up at him.

"No."

"No?"

"No, Zizi home, stay wake." she fixed her pleading eyes on him, "Pease, no go bed."

"No, Zizi coming home very, very, very late. You need to go to bed."

"But morrow Satday, no nursry big sleep!" he smiled and shook his head, the kid could bargain, sighing he gave in.

"Oh ok, ok." Zippy grinned and Leora shook her head, smiling at Tony's softness, " How about we go to pick her up at the airport then?" Zippy wasn't paying attention, or didn't understand but Leora answered him instead.

"Yes, lets-she would like that I think."

"Yeah, you know she's been gone for days, she must be missing us lots!" he grinned as Leora stood up,

"Some of us more than others Tony, some of us are just a bit too childish!" she teased as she stood up and headed towards the door,

"Hey! You better watch out, it would be real upsetting if you were to wake up with a giant spider in your bed!" he shouted after her, hearing her laugh from the bedroom.

* * *

**Hi, just to let you guys know it might be a while till I post more of this, not like AGES but like a few weeks, I've got loads of work on on the next while so won' t have time! Really I didn't mean to write this much tonight I only really did it so that I would have a chapter to go with my author's note! What I was really wnting to ask is that after chapter 15 there was a HUGE drop in readers, like literally hundreds even all those who have this on alerts haven't read it so I was just looking for some constructive critisism if anyone would like to share it. I'm not sure what was so bad about thatchapter that it could have made 400 people stop reading lol! Anyway, if anyone wants to tell me what went wrong i would really appreciate it so i can avoid doing it in the future, promise i won't get offended!! thanks! x  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**Zipporah was circling Tony's legs, placing each foot precisely in front of the other as she went. When she reached his front she sighed theatrically and flopped against his knees, letting her chin rest on his thigh as she stared up at him,**

"**When Zizi come?" Tony sighed and continued to flick through the discarded newspaper he'd found without even glancing down,**

"**Soon" he replied wearily, Zippy had asked the same question every two minutes since thay had arrived as she anxiously waited for Ziva. She had insisted that they stand as close as possible to the gate where she was due to arrive. He had felt a bit supid at first, the few others waiting were sittting on the benches or casually leaning against the wall with a coffee while they practically had their nose pressed to the doors, Zipporah would have been waiting on the runway if it were possible. She sighed and stood up straight again, wandering over to Leora, "**_**Many minutes**_**?" **

"_**Ah! I swear if you ask me that one more time!"**_** Leora laughed and lunged towards Zippy who squealed and leapt out of the way giggling.**

"**Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? People are staring at us!" Tony hissed as the eyes of the other greeters were drawn to the commotion.**

"**She keeps asking how many minutes till Ziva comes over and over!" Leo replied before turning to her little sister, but just as she opened her mouth the tannoy burst to life, announcing the arrival of Ziva's flight. "**_**See Zippy, she's landed, she'll be coming through those doors very, very soon**_**." **

"_**k, how many minutes?"**_** she grinned cheekily back.**

**Ziva was waiting to go through passport control; she stared blankly at the queue winding ahead. Her brain was fuzzy with exhaustion as she leant gently on the handle of her case, occasionally shoving it forward when the line sluggishly moved on. She caught sigh of the man she had been trapped next to on the plane, angry that he had somehow managed to get several spaces ahead of her. How he had achieved this she didn't know, judging by his size he must have moved faster than he had done in years. His rolls of fat had spilled over to her side, encroaching on her space. He was rumpled and sweaty and an unpleasant odour assaulted her nostrils: which had forced her to contort herself at a funny angle to avoid touching him. She had watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as he munched through snack after snack, the most horrendous being an enormous packet of cheese puffs. Their smell had mixed with his own stench while coating him and even some of her leg in a fluorescent orange powder. She longed for a long, hot shower followed by an even longer sleep but it didn't seem like that would be happening anytime soon. When she finally got waved through she followed the crowd down the corridor towards the exit, dreading the possibility of having to wait for a taxi. She was preoccupied with this thought when she entered the airport concourse before hearing an excited squeal,**

"**ZIZI!!" She paused and looked around her but it was a few seconds until she spotted Zipporah bounding towards her, giving her just enough time to drop the handle of her case before she leapt into her arms. Zippy wrapped her legs and arms around Ziva, pressing her face against her neck, "**_**Missed you"**_** her voice was muffled against her skin but Ziva could still make it out.**

"_**I missed you too!"**_** she replied as Leora too appeared grinning before her, holding out her own arms to welcome Ziva back, **

"_**Ziva! Hi, how was you're flight? We've been waiting for ages, Zippy was driving us MAD" **_**she said as they hugged,**

"_**Was not!"**_** Zippy exclaimed indignantly from her position, sandwiched between them. Ziva laughed slightly, **

"_**Of course you weren't!"**_** it was only then that she noticed Tony hovering, almost uncomfortably behind Leo, **

"**Hi, uh welcome back." **

"**What are you doing here?" he frowned at her response.**

"**You know, it's your impeccable manners I like most about you Ziva, you always know how . . ."**

"**I am sorry Tony, I just was not expecting you to be here when I arrived." he shrugged and went over to pick up her case,**

"**Yeah I know but Zippy made us come, personally I would rather be in bed right now."**

"**Huh, what a gentleman, who has manners now?" He screwed his face up at her as they all began to stroll through the airport.**

"**Do you have to go to baggage claim or is it just this carry on?"**

"**Just the carry on, we can go straight home." **

"**Great, we better move it- my parking time is almost up anyway didn't think it would take you so long to come through customs-you must look suspicious."**

"**I got through fine, there is nothing suspicious about me at . . ."**

"**So. What happened in Israel, what exactly did Benjamin say? Did you see dad? What did he say? You said you'd tell us everything when you got back!" Leo butted in before Ziva and Tony got embroiled in one of their inane arguments. Ziva hesitated briefly before replying,**

"**Benjamin . . . Was quite positive, he thinks we have a good chance. A very good chance."**

"**Really?"**

"**Yes, especially now your grandparents are supporting us." they walked in silence for a few seconds before Leora asked,**

"**Did you see dad?"**

"**Yes, I saw your father." Ziva replied tersely before glancing at Leo, smiling slightly, "I had him thrown out of the house." she added smugly.**

"**Really? Good." no one spoke again until they reached the car, even Zipporah was quite. The instant Ziva had picked her up Zippy's bubble of energy had burst, leaving the little girl deflated in her arms. Her eyes were heavy, her lids slowly sinking shut as she was gently placed in the back seat. **

"**She's been climbing up the walls all day, so excited that you were coming back tonight." Tony nodded towards Zippy as he opened his door. **

"**Mmmmm, and it is well passed her bedtime, no wonder she is so tired." Ziva smiled and brushed dark wisps of hair of the girl's face, who was now fast asleep.**

**An hour later Tony was drying his face, already wearing his pyjamas he stepped out of the bathroom to find Ziva entering the bedroom. **

"**Hey, the girls all sorted?"**

"**Yes, I was just double checking that Leora had everything she needs for tomorrow."**

"**And does she?"**

"**Yes."**

"**See, you have so little faith in me! Told you we'd be fine." he grinned at her triumphantly.**

"**Yes, I know. Thank you again for looking after them," she paused and reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a duty free bag, "In fact I brought you back a little gift." **

"**Oooh a present!" he reached out and took the bag, pulling out a small snow globe with a camel which was bearing all of its teeth in a huge, cheesy grin inside and "Israel" written across its base. "Wow, just what I always wanted," he said in monotone. **

"**Well, I admit it is a strange souvenir but I had very little time for shopping and well, I saw it and thought of you." he laughed and shook it provoking a flurry around the cartoon camel,**

"**So it snows often in Israel then does it?" **

"**Well, not regularly." she smiled at him for a few moments, "Oh, well if you do not like the snow ball I bought you something else too, maybe you will be more grateful for this!" she turned around and opened her case, pulling out another carrier bag.**

"**I am grateful, I love it in fact I think I will keep it on my desk. Bet Gibbs'll be so jealous of my snow GLOBE." he emphasised the word globe to highlight her mistake, Ziva dropped her arms letting the bag rest against her legs. She tilted her head at him and screwed her face up in confusion,**

"**Snow globe? Why is it called a globe?"**

"**Because, well because it's like a . . . what's in the bag?" he changed the subject back to his present and she smiled slightly again before holding it up.**

"**I thought that you might find this helpful. Maybe it will stop you being so paranoid." he pulled a book out of the bag, "English-Hebrew; Useful Phrases," was written in big red letters across the cover. He chuckled and flipped it open, flicking through a few pages. **

"**Thanks, now I can show you how easy learning a language is." she snorted and turned away to pull a pair of shorts and a t shirt out of her drawer. **

"**Yeah right!" she laughed as she walked past him into the bathroom.**

**When she came put Tony was sitting in bed studying his new book intently.**

"**Fluent yet?" she asked as she strolled round to her side. **

" **Ken," **

"**Ze matsa hen beeynekha?" she asked him sweetly, he stared at her blankly for a few seconds before nodding once,**

"**Ken," she laughed and climbed into bed, leaning against the headboard. He closed the book and turned to look at her. "So, are you going to tell me what really happened in Israel?" she sighed and glanced back at him before averting her eyes again.**

"**Omri was in my hotel room when I arrived. He was furious."**

"**What? How did he get in?"**

"**I have no idea, he said he was going to fight me. He even threatened me, said he could make me disappear." she laughed quietly as she said this.**

"**HE WHAT?" **

"**oh don't worry about that, he has no power to do that to me. He is too much if a coward to stand up to someone of his own size and I doubt he could afford to hire someone to do it for him." Tony, stared at her, aghast at the matter of fact tone of voice,**

"**What? How can you be so calm about this? What exactly did he say?"**

"**Tony, that is the least of my worries. The only way he can really get at me is by winning the girls, which he could . . . Well he has a good chance of doing." she stared straight ahead while Tony processed what she had said,**

"**So when you said that Benjamin thought you had a good chance that was only for Leo's benefit?"**

"**I may have exaggerated our chances slightly but it is not a hopeless situation. There are things I could do which might benefit us."**

"**Like what?" she swallowed dropped her eyes to her knees, avoiding looking at him as she replied.**

"**I could go back to Israel." **

"**For, forever? Like moving back for good?" he asked quietly and she nodded slowly. "And you would do that?" she nodded again before taking in a deep breath,**

"**If it would ensure the girls got to stay with e then yes, of course I would go." **

"**Oh, well yeah, I suppose you would have to." he slumped back against the headboard too and she turned, causing their eyes to meet.**

"**But Benjamin said that I do not have to think about that just now, we will have to wait and see what happens." they stared at each other in silence for what seemed like ages until Tony shrugged,**

"**But you would leave." he said quietly, keeping his eyes fixed on hers. They sat in a strained silence for another minute until Ziva broke her gaze and lay down.**

"**It might not come to that." she whispered before rolling onto her side and turning off her light. Tony did the same, settling down facing her back. **

"**layla tov, ot nehmadim" he murmured into the dark. He heard her snort quietly before she turned onto her back,**

"**Your pronunciation needs a little work but, good night and sweet dreams to you too." she smiled at him before leaning back into her pillow, staring at the ceiling. She lay deep in thought for a while, running for the millionth time all the possible routes their lives could take through her mind, trying to decide what her next move should be.**

"**We will probably find another . . ." she started to speak before she glanced back at Tony, finding him already fast asleep. He was lying with his arms sprawled out ahead of him and his mouth hanging open, giving him a mildly surprised expression. She smiled at his sleeping form, wriggling slightly closer to him until his fingers of his outstretched arms were gently touching her face and she could feel the warmth of his body radiating across the bed. She shut her eyes and the sound of his peaceful breathing lulled her into the first deep sleep she'd had since she had left for Israel.**


	19. Chapter 19

Ziva groaned and arched her back, stretching sleepily as she buried her head deep into her pillow. She felt the sunlight streaming through the blinds warming her skin gently and sighed happily before suddenly remembering about Leora's camp, she was meant to meet her class at seven, she jolted head up to check the time. It was six forty five, she flung herself upright, cursing her alarm clock violently. It was then she finally noticed Zipporah leaning on the other side of the bed staring at her questioningly, well Ziva assumed so anyway, she could only see one of her eyes, the other being obscured by an orange post it.

"_Morning Zizi," _she grinned, clambering up, _"Didn't wake you!" _she stated seriously. Ziva frowned and reached for the note on her forehead, then pulled up the duvet for Zippy to slither in next to her.

"Boker tov! Away to drop off L for camp, she says bye and will call you later. Told Z not to wake you so if she has she's in BIG TROUBLE!! Will pick up breakfast, see you later, T" Ziva smiled and dropped the note onto her bedside table and sank back into the mattress, wrapping an arm around Zippy who flung one of her own across Ziva's stomach, squeezing her tight for a moment.

"_So, what have you three been up to all week?"_ she curled her hand round to run her fingers gently through the little girl's hair.

"_Lots and lots!" _was the cheerful reply.

"_Like what?"_

"Well_ . . . We went swimming. To a big, big pool, it had big tall jumpy off bits" _she raised her hands in the air, to illustrate how high the diving boards had been,

"_Did you jump from one?"_

"_No, too little,"_ she sighed disappointedly before instantly brightening up again, "_Leo did, very brave! And she made a little splash, like "splish" not like fat man's big "_SPLOSH" Ziva laughed as Zipporah flung her arms as she spoke.

"_What t about you?" _

"_Learnt to swim!" _Zipporah announced proudly

"_Really? Wow!"_

"_Uh huh, see!" _she rolled onto her stomach and began to wind her arms around and kick her legs furiously, catching Ziva's thigh with her little feet.

"_Ok I see. I see, well done but maybe you should wait and show me properly in a pool!" _Ziva chuckled as she rolled away slightly, out of range from the limbs flying around her.

"_Hmmm k," _Zippy sighed and flopped down again, _"WHEN? Today?" _she asked excitedly, fixing her eyes eagerly on Ziva.

"_Well, maybe- we'll see."_

They chatted happily for another half an hour until they heard the door slam as Tony arrived home.

"Hi!" he called out as he made his way towards the bedroom,

"Hello,"

"PICKLE!" Ziva and Zipporah replied in unison seconds before he appeared in the doorway, smiling when he saw Zippy and Ziva lying in bed together.

"Sleep well?" he asked as he strolled towards them.

"Mmmm very, too well I should have taken Leo today, you did not have to do that too."

"Huh, well that's easy for you to say now, trust me it was the last thing I wanted to do at six this morning but you were dead to the world and you were snoring so much was better for me to just get up than let my ears bleed!" Ziva narrowed her eyes at him,

"I do not snore" she hissed back at him,

"Ha! Zippy, Ziva snores right? She makes noise?" Zippy grinned, threw her head back and began making loud snorting noises. This lasted for about ten seconds before she abruptly stopped and looked at Ziva,

"Is you Zizi!" Tony roared with laughter while Ziva gasped and gently thumped the giggling child with a pillow.

"You are corrupting these children Tony!"

"Pffff nah, I'm not you just have to face the truth Ziva-you snore like a big ole pig!" he continued laughing as he kicked his shoes off and sat up on the bed next to them.

"Zippy was telling me all about what you have been doing this week."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, that you have been teaching her to swim."

"Yep she's like a little fish!" he ruffled her hair and she turned to look at him,

"Me and Zizi swim today!" Ziva frowned,

"_Hey, I said maybe!"_

"_But . . . Pleeeeeaaaaase!"_ she clambered up on to Ziva's tummy, straddling her and bending down till her face was just a few inches from Ziva's, big brown eyes fixed on hers. Ziva met her gaze determinedly for a while before sighing an rolling her eyes,

"Uh, fine." Zippy grinned triumphantly and rolled back off of her, sprawling out on the bed.

"And you say she has me wrapped around her little finger!" Tony exclaimed,

"Well I want to ensure that you have been instructing her correctly."

"You think I can't teach someone to swim? I have a degree in physical education!" Ziva smiled slightly and reached across Zippy to pinch his stomach gently, nipping a small bulge of soft fat.

"Ah yes I see, that is why you maintain your athletic physique." he batted her hand away,

"Hey! Already warned you about my fat roll! It's only when I'm sitting down, everyone gets that. If I were standing up right now there wouldn't be any inches for pinching!" he grumbled at her as she withdrew her hand which was quickly replaced by Zippy's, prodding his tummy roughly. "See now look what you've started! I may develop a complex!" Tony moaned at Ziva, who was still smiling in amusement. Zippy soon stopped poking him, deciding to lounge against him instead, resting her head on his stomach.

"Well, maybe you should come swimming with us- a little exercise and soon you could have rock hard abs, _even whilst sitting!"_ Ziva chuckled at her own sarcasm, sitting up until her back was resting on the headboard.

"Actually, I was wanting to speak to you about today, some of the guys are going to play a bit of ball in the park this morning and then to Mark's to watch the game and so I was wondering if . . ." Ziva stared at him incredulously,

"Are you asking me if you can go out with your friends?" he paused and then nodded hesitantly at which point she laughed loudly, "Tony, of course you can! Why would you need my permission?"

"I dunno, I just thought that maybe, I dunno you might need me today or something." he blushed slightly which caused her to stopp giggling and look at him seriously,

"Tony, I appreciate the thought but you should go and have fun with your friends. You've been tied down by us so much these last few weeks you deserve to have some fun." she said sincerely, smiling gratefully at him.

"Ok great, well we should probably go eat, breakfast will be getting cold."

"Breakfast!" Zipporah burst into life again following her brief innterlude of quiet contemplation on Tony's tummy. "Pakes?" she asked hopefully,

"Yes, pakes." Tony sighed before gasping as Zippy knocked all the wind out of him when she launched herself off of him and scampered through to the kitchen. They laughed as they watched her speed off in search of pancakes.

"_Look Zizi, look_!" Zippy squealed happily as she splashed around in the water, slowly making her way towards Ziva.

"_Wow! Very good!"_ She reached out her habds for Zippy to grab and then dragged her the rest of the way back, letting her skim through the water. Zippy giggled and clutched Ziva's shoulders, panting heavily.

"_How about you try without the ring? Just the wings?"_ Zippy looked at her distainfully,

"_Can already swim with no ring." _

"_Then why did you make me blow it up?"_

"_Cause I like to play with it!" _Zippy giggled as Ziva pulled the rubber ring off of her, sighing as she did so.

"_Well, ok show me that too then." _she gently dropped Zippy back into the water and moved around until she was in front of her, holding her arms out towards the little girl but keeping them just out of reach as Zippy paddled through the water . _"Wow, look at that you're just as fast as me!"_ Ziva called out as they moved through the pool,

"_I know, I catched Pickle, TWICE!" _Zipporah shouted to her, holding her head up as far as possible as she spoke.

"_Ha well, you'll never catch me, I'm far too fast!,"_

"_Will!!"_ Zippy squealed excitedly and redoubled her efforts as she doggedly pushed herself towards Ziva.

"_Oh no! You've almost got me!"_ Ziva screamed theatrically as she pretended to slip on the pool floor, allowing Zippy to grab hold of her arms. She pulled her up until she could rest her hands on Ziva's shoulders and bounced through the water with Zippy standing on her knees. "_Wow you're too fast even for me! Don't tell Tony, he'll laugh at me let's keep it our secret ok?"_

"_Ok"_ Zippy giggled and nodded her head. They drifted around the shallow end for a while, until Zipporah got her breath back.

"_Did you try swimming on your back with Tony?"_

"_No,"_

"_Will we do it now?"_ Zipporah looked at her uncertainly and then shook her head,_ "Why not, it's very easy!"_

"_Might sink,"_

"_You won't! Come on, we'll try it just once."_ Ziva said encouragingly and finally Zippy agreed, albeit reluctantly. Ziva placed her in the water, cradling her softly, "_Ok see I have one hand under your head and one under your back, just at your bottom so you won't sink, now stretch out so you're very straight." _Zippy did so, still looking nervous._ "See, you're floating do you feel it?"_

"_Uh-huh"_

"_Try kicking your legs, see that's it you're moving! Im going to take my hand away from your head so you can move more easily ok?"_

"_No!"_

"_It's ok I'll still hold you up don't worry I've got you you won't sink!" _she slowly removed her hand, making sure Zippy could keep her head up first. _"See, it's fine!"_ they spent another half an hour like this, Ziva constantly reassuring her until Zippy was happily propelling herself through the water.

Later that afternoon Ziva was driving home with Zippy noisily drinking a juice carton in the back seat. It was about the first time the entire day when more than ten seconds had passed and Zippy hadn't said anything but she was making up for it by slurping loudly. She paused and looked up at Ziva,

"_What's for tea?"_ Ziva smiled to herself, that girl was only happy when talking or eating, preferably both.

"_I'm not sure,"_

"_but am very hungry!"_

"_Well that's because of all the swimming you did!"_

"_My very fast swimming, catched you!" _

"_Shhhhhh, our secret remember!" _

"_Ooooops!" _Zippy giggled conspiratorially, "_When Pickle come home can we play hippos?"_

"_Maybe,"_ Ziva was cursing the day she had seen hungry hippos and thought it was something which Zippy would like to play, turned out she was a little too right. She pulled up into her parking space and got out of the car, going round to open up Zippy's door and then helping her hop out of the car.

"_I like purple one, can I be purple one? You're always red and Pickle blue."_

"_ok, IF we play hippos you can be purple."_

"_K!" _replied, satisfied for now. Ziva slammed the door shut, looked up and then frowned. There were two strange cars parked across the street from which two men had emerged and were now crossing the road towards them. She clutched Zippy's hand tightly, instinctively pulling her close. The men were walking straight towards them, both wearing dark suits but with shirt collars casually unbuttoned.

"Ziva David?" one called out,

"Yes,"

"I'm Detective Tan and this is Detective McNeill," they both flashed their badges at her before slotting them back into their pockets, "We're here to arrest you on suspicion of kidnapping and false imprisonment"


	20. Chapter 20

"What?" Ziva hissed in disbelief, "You are here to do what?",

"We are here to arrest you for Kidnapping and false im . . . "

"Of who exactly?" Ziva demanded, practically squaring up to the detectives,

"A Leora and Zipporah Peled," one of them replied, Detective Tan, who had so far done all the talking while his partner stood quietly, almost uncomfortably, by his side. Ziva laughed scornfully.

"Are you serious? Look at her!" she gestured towards Zipporah who had edged closer and closer to her until she was peering out from behind her leg. "She is not _"falsely imprisoned,"_ I do not have her tied to a radiator or locked in my basement she is perfectly fine!" she fixed a hard stare on the two men, her eyes burning with fury.

"Look, mam, we understand that this is part of a custody dis . . . " the quiet detective suddenly joined the conversation, spreading his arms out in a conciliatory manner as he spoke, until he was abruptly cut off,

"You understand NOTHING!" Ziva hissed, "Why are you doing this? Have you got a warrant for my arrest there?" Detective Tan pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper and handed it to her, allowing her to read it carefully. She sighed and brought a hand up to her forehead, rubbing it slowly for a few seconds before mumbling, "This is unbelievable. I cannot believe he is doing this, I cannot believe he CAN do this."

"Look, the quicker you come with us the quicker we can sort this out ok mam?" Detective Tan said, sounding thoroughly bored with this trivial domestic matter. His partner stepped towards them but Ziva backed away slightly,

"Wait a minute, what happens now?"

"Well you come to the police station with us and Zipporah goes to . . ."

"No, no you cannot just take her! She doesn't understand English very well, she will be confused . . ."

"It's alright, she is coming to the station too, she just has to go in a separate car ok? Then a social worker will come and speak to her while we question you. Just to see how she is or if she's in any . . . Danger."

"And then what?"

"Well, after that a decision will be made in the best interests of the children." Detective McNeill spouted out his well rehearsed phrase while Ziva stood, still shaking her head in disbelief.

"But you cannot possibly make that decision, you cannot just take them or send them back!" She reached out and grabbed Zipporah's hand tightly,

"_What's happening Zizi, who these men?"_ the little girl whimpered, wrapping her own chubby fingers around Ziva's

"_It's alright, don't worry," _she replied before turning back to the men. "Can you not just interview her with me around, then you can see that she is fine." Detective McNeill shook his head slowly.

"No, that's not the way it works," he bent down and held out his hand to Zippy, "Hi sweetie, my name's Dermot, what's yours?" he asked quietly but Zippy backed away, clutching at Ziva's leg, whimpering slightly. Ziva moved to step in front of her, staring defiantly at him. "Look Ms David . . ."

"_Special Agent _David." she corrected him curtly, he looked slightly taken aback before continuing,

"Oh, well then Agent David, I'm sure you can understand that making a scene is only going to upset Zipporah more. Coming quietly would be beneficial for everyone yeah?" he squinted up at her, still squatting in front of Zippy. Ziva opened her mouth again but before she could say another word Detective Tan cut in.

"Look, don't make us cuff you alright _Agent _David, just get into the car and we'll get on our way." he sighed impatiently and Ziva finally accepted the situation, slowly bending down to Zipporah. She was now crying quietly, aware that something was very, very wrong. Ziva reached out and wiped away some of the fat tears that were slowly rolling down her cheeks.

"_Sssssssh it's ok, you're going to go on a little adventure today-to a great big police station."_

"_With you?"_ Zippy asked hopefully,

"_No, not today, you're getting to go with a real policeman that's much better than boring old me isn't it?"_

"_No, no come too please!"_

"_I'm sorry but I have to go with the other man. Just for a little while though, it's all ok."_

"'_romise?" _

"_Yes, I promise, everything's going to be ok."_ Ziva leant forward and hugged her, quickly kissing her forehead too, "_Don't cry." _she squeezed her once more and then stood up, "Ok then, let's go." McNeill reached down and took Zippy's hand and she reluctantly started walking with him while Ziva followed flanked by Detective Tan. The little girl kept anxiously turning round to look at Ziva, her face still stained with tears but Ziva just smiled encouragingly at her, hoping to calm her down. They reached the cars Ziva watched her climb into the car with Detective McNeill's assistance,

"My name Zippy," she sniffed suddenly, finally answering his question. He smiled and held out his hand to her again and this time she took it, shaking it vigorously.

"Well I'm very pleased to meet you Zippy," he said warmly,

"Likewise," Zippy replied solemnly causing Ziva to laugh out loud, despite the situation. Where on earth had she picked up that? Probably one of Tony's films, she loved them, especially the old noir ones. Ziva had caught her pretending to smoke a cigar the other day- saying she was playing Sam 'pade, probably something she shouldn't tell the social worker she thought, her smile fading as she watched them pull away. She heard the sound of Detective Tan clearing his throat, she turned to find him holding her door open,

"Ready mam?" he asked, she narrowed her eyes at him dangerously,

"Stop calling me _mam_" she spat as she slid into the car, slamming the door behind her.

Forty five minutes later Ziva was pacing around the interrogation room like a caged animal, circling the table over and over again. Finally the door opened and Tan walked in, sitting down without saying a word.

"Where is Zippy? Is she alright?" she demanded but he just stared at her for a few moments before indicating towards the other chair,

"Take a seat." she sighed in frustration but sat down anyway,

"How is she?"

"I just have to ask a few questions and then we'll talk about her," he replied smoothly.

"I am not talking about anything until you tell me exactly where and how she is!" she replied, just as calmly, smiling at him smugly.

"Fine, if you don't want to give me your side of the story then we'll just send them on the first flight back to Tel Aviv, would make my life _much _easier." he folded his arms and grinned at her. Ziva was contemplating leaping from her seat and using it to beat the slimy little toad to death when the door opened again and McNeill strolled in, taking a seat next to the other policeman.

"Zippy's fine, she's upstairs I gave her a juice box so she's slurping away at that. We're just waiting for someone from CPS to come talk to her OK?" he spoke before Ziva had a chance to open her mouth and she nodded in reply. "Good. Ok to business, the girls' father has made an allegation that after the death of his wife you kidnapped his children and are preventing them from returning home or contacting him. Is that true?"

"No! That is not true! Hannah and the girls were living with me long before she died because he is such a manipulative, horrible . . ."

"Ok so you refute the allegation." he calmly took notes in a little pa,

"Yes, definitely, Hannah, their mother, left them in my care. It's in her will," she paused and McNeill nodded, ". . . and when she died they were already living with me so, well, I just let them stay. That man has not once, not once_, _made any attempt to contact them." she folded her arms and rested them on the table, carefully trying to maintain a level tone as she spoke "He is only doing this to make life difficult for us all, he does not care about them at all."

"Do you have a copy of the will?" McNeill asked,

"Well, no but I could get one from my lawyer in Tel Aviv."

"Do you have other documentation for the girls, passports, visas and such?"

"Yes,"

"Ok, then." McNeill turned his partner,

"Agent David hasn't made her phone call yet, why don't you go get a phone in here ok?" he asked authoritatively and the other man immediately got out and left the room. Ziva watched, slightly surprised at the readiness with which Tan accepted the order. "Everyone always thinks he's the boss, he's not the boss." McNeill smiled at her. "He's a bit gruff with everyone but I reckon that's just a touch of the old short man syndrome." Ziva furrowed her brows at him in confusion.

"Old, short man syndrome? He is sick?"

"Uhh . . .No, it's like a joke, you know many short men make up for it by being loud and angry?" he tried to explain but when this only seemed to add to Ziva's confusion he abandoned it and returned to the more important matter. "Anyway, we'll need to have a look at the girls' documents and then once CPS has spoken to them they'll come and assess you and we can get this whole situation sorted out."

"Sorted out how?" she asked desperately, "What will happen do you think?"

"Honestly I don't know, we need to wait for the CPS's judgement and to see what our own investigation turns up regarding Peled's various accusations. It's far too early to tell how this is going to turn out." he said quietly, just finishing as the door once again swung open, revealing Tan carrying a phone which he plonked onto the desk. Ziva continued to stare at McNeill across the table, unnerved by his last words.

"K David, I'm sure you know the rules- one phone call." she ignored Tan's snide tone and slowly reached for the phone. Dialling carefully she held it up to her ear.

"DiNozzo" he answered and she could hear the sound of rowdy ;laughter and shouting in the background as his friends enjoyed the game,

"Tony?"

"Oh hey Ziva, hold on I can't hear you I'll move- hey watch out guys I gotta take this,", now she heard his friends mocking him, making whip sounds as he clambered over them to get out of the room, where it was much more peaceful. "Ok what's up? Have a good time swimming-she can really move in the water can't she . . .,"

"Tony, I've been arrested," she blurted out, and was met with a brief silence until Tony groaned and replied,

"Aww Ziva, what did you do?"


	21. Chapter 21

**Hi! just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews! also a couple of things that i might not have made clear, when Ziva is talking to either of the girls, especially zippy, when Tony's not there or when it doesn't concern him then they're using hebrew. I've tried to use italics when that's the case but I might have forgotten sometimes, anyway that's why Ziva uses lots of contractions then. Also, that's why Zippy's language skills can seem erratic, it's not that she can't speak it's that she can't speak english very well! Finally, I have absolutely NO legal knowledge- not of America and certainly not Israel so basically i'm making it up as i go along although i have tried to look some stuff up i'm just not promising it's actually 100% technically fullproof! right that's me done chatting, thanks again for all the reviews, but there's always room for some more hint, hint!! **

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"I have done nothing!" Ziva retorted angrily, "It is about the girls, Omri has accused me of kidnapping them!"

"WHAT? Where's Zippy, what's goin' on? Have you called Benjamin?"

"No, I am phoning YOU!"

"Oh right, one phone call huh?"

"Ah well done Tony, your years of experience in law enforcement have paid off I see!" she snapped in frustration.

"Ok, ok, what to you need me to do?" Tony replied calmly in the face of her anger, she sighed deeply before answering,

"Bring in all the papers I have for me and the girls, they are in a box file in the bottom of the wardrobe and then phone Benjamin and ask him to send a copy of the will to the Third District Station FAO Detective Dermot McNeill?"

"Ok got it, papers, Benjamin, Third District Station I'm on it."

"Thank you Tony."

"No Problem, we'll get it all sorted out don't worry."

"Mmmmm" she murmured, unconvinced.

"Well I'll get going then I guess,"

"Ok, bye," she paused momentarily, "and . . . I are sorry for snapping at you."

"Hey no problem, see you soon." he flipped his phone shut, leaving Ziva listening to the dialling tone; she placed the phone back into its cradle.

"Alright then, that's that for now I suppose. We'll just leave you in here for now the CPS officer should be here soon." Detective McNeill picked up the phone and passed it back to Tan. "I'll just go and check on Zipporah, tell her you're alright." Ziva nodded wordlessly, staring straight ahead while the two men left the room.

Tony burst through his front door and rushed through to his bedroom, flinging open his wardrobe door he grabbed the black box file. He opened it, it still had a slightly smoky smell from the fire, and quickly rifled through the sheets, checking that all the important papers were there. He was pleased to see that stuck to the cover of the file was a post it note with Benjamin's number on it, "Ah so organised Ziva." Tony thought, grateful that he wouldn't have to waste time looking him up on line. He dialled quickly and started pacing around the room waiting for him to answer,

"Benjamin Zahavi"

"Hi, Benjamin it's Tony DiNozzo here . . ."

"Ah! Ziva's partner! I am very pleased to speak with you, Ziva has spoken . . ."

"Yeah, I'm sorry to cut you off but we're having a bit of a problem with the . . ."

"Oh, with Ziva? With the girls? What is it?"

"Well Ziva's been arrested."

"Aya! That girl and her temper! I say to her, "do not do anything in haste leave it to me!"

"No it's nothing like that; she's been arrested for kidnapping the girls."

"WHAT!?" Benjamin erupted furiously, "How can this be? Why have I not been informed of this?" he demanded,

"Well I . . . I don't know she just phoned me," he replied nervously,

"Oh, I am sorry my boy I did not mean to shout or alarm you. Of course it is nothing to do with you." his tone softened just as swiftly as it had sharpened,

"Yeah, no problem I'm used to it, Ziva wants you to send a copy of Hannah's will to the Third District Station FAO Detective Dermot McNeill." he was met with silence, apart from Benjamin's shallow breathing, "Uh Benjamin?"

"Aha! This is good though, I do not know anything about this! Ah yes this means that he has not put this through official channels, oh no because then I would have been informed!"

"Uhm alright but you need to send a . . ."

"This is good, very good I can fix this no problem." Tony could hear what sounded like the old man leaping to his feet and rushing around the room. "You tell Ziva not to worry, this will be fine. Better than fine-makes Omri look bad, very irresponsible, very good for us, oh yes very good."

"Ok that's great but you need to send a . . ."

"Yes, yes, yes the will Third District Station, Dermot McNeill, I know, I know."

"Sorry, I was just making sure that you . . ."

"Ah yes I heard do not worry it is all in hand, Tell Ziva that by tomorrow all this will be forgotten!" with one last gleeful exclamation Benjamin was gone, leaving Tony clutching his mobile, wondering if Ziva had made the right choice of lawyer. He turned back around and picked up the file, catching sight of himself in the mirror he frowned and dropped it back down. He looked extremely scruffy so he quickly pulled of his t-shirt and old jeans and replaced them with a light grey suite and white shirt. He wasn't sure why he had bothered, holding onto a vague hope that maybe if he looked more like a professional agent of the law then the police might go easier on them. He shrugged, couldn't hurt their case anyway he supposed, grabbed the papers and ran out the door.

Twenty minutes later he arrived at the station. He rushed through the doors and was met by a long queue of people waiting for the service of the officers at the front desk. He sidled forward and shouted out for the attention of one of the harassed women,

"Hey, excuse me." she ignored him, "Hello,"

"Wait your turn, can't you see the line?" she shouted back,

"Yeah I know, it's just that I'm Special Agent DiNozzo, I have some papers for Detective McNeill, he wants them urgently." he grinned at her when she glanced up, flashing his badge too for good measure.

"He's expecting you, you working a case together?"

"Yeah that's right"

"Ok, I'll just get someone to show you up."

"Aww that's alright I can see you're busy, just point me in the right direction." he charmed her with another DiNozzo grin; she sighed and relented against her better judgement- smiling back at him slightly.

"Oh alright, second floor right at the end of the corridor."

"Thanks," he called over his shoulder

"Yeah ok," she shook her head and returned to work.

Tony strode down the second floor corridor, giving out a fake air of confidence as he went. He nervously eyed up everyone who passed him, wondering if they were this McNeill he was searching for. He finally reached the room he was looking for, it was large and open plan with around six desks scattered around. He scanned each of them, reading the name tags until he heard a screech from the far side.

"Pickle!" he spotted Zipporah hopping off a chair by the window and running towards him. She flung her arms around his legs and squeezed him tightly before stepping back and grabbing his free hand. "Time for home, yes." she marched round him and tried dragging him out of the room.

"Zippy hold on a minute."

"No, no," she shook her head emphatically and stared up at him, he could see her eyes were red and puffy from crying. "no go home."

"Hey who are you?" Tony looked up to see an angry figure striding towards him.

"Uh, hi, I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo . . ."

"Pickle, pickle PEEEEASE home now pease!" Zippy tugged on him harder as McNeill approached him threateningly.

"What do you want?"

"I uh brought you the papers you need for Ziva David."

"Oh," McNeill held out a hand for them and Tony passed them over. "How the hell did you get up here? I didn't get a call saying you had arrived." he snapped as he rummaged through the file, examining each document carefully.

"Yeah I know, you see if you had then you would have sent someone for the papers and then I wouldn't have gotten to come up here myself and ask what's going on." Tony explained quickly, reaching down and picking up Zipporah who was still roughly pulling his arm. McNeill frowned at him,

"Well yeah of course I would, you can't just come waltzing up here!"

"Aww come on man, I just wanted to check on my girl." he glanced round at Zippy's face, which was now resting sadly on his shoulder, "I'm not doing any harm, I'll keep her out of your way." he offered hopefully but McNeill's frown remained plastered across his face, "look we'll just sit over in that corner I promise, no trouble." the detective's face finally softened and he turned around gesturing for them to follow him. "And while we're sitting in the corner, out of the way you could explain what's going on?" McNeill spun back around,

"Look if you're going to . . ."

"No, no it's just, well look at her!" he gestured at Zippy who was clutching him tightly, "She's not in danger with us, she's perfectly happy, I just want to know what the next steps are." Tony pleaded with him until he nodded and continued towards his desk.

"Ok, ok alright, take a seat" he said as he settled into his own. "Right, state of play at the moment is we're waiting for someone for CPS to come and interview both Zipporah and Ziva. We also have sent someone to collect Leora so that she too can be assessed." he leant back and waited for Tony's reaction,

"You're dragging Leo all the way back from her camp? They're going to be interviewed? Even Zippy? She won't understand!"

"Yes, I know I've been through this with Miss David and I'm afraid that it's up to the CPS officer to decide whether she has a high enough level of fluency to understand her questions." Tony sighed and shook his head.

"This is ridiculous," he ran his fingers through his hair and then asked,

"So, what happens after that?"

"I'm going to be honest with you." McNeill leant forward conspiratorially, "Mr Peled has not put this through official channels."

"Yes! Yes I heard that! What does that even mean?" McNeill raised his eyebrows at him, "That's what the lawyer in Israel said but he didn't exactly _explain_ what he meant."

"I mean, he didn't make an official request through the courts for our assistance, he just made a call to our captain." pausing he took a sip of coffee out of mug by his computer before continuing, "You see, captain's a big wheel in the Friends of Israel and apparently they met a couple of years ago at some event or other here in D.C. Anyway he just calls up this morning and demands we arrest you for kidnapping his children. Big old sob story about how he has nothing now his wife's dead blah, blah, blah so off we go to arrest Ms David."

"Oh, ok. So what does that mean for us then?"

"Well, frankly, from what I've seen so far this is a civil rather than a criminal matter. Their visas are still valid as long as they are guaranteed by Ms David and I see no evidence of mistreatment or abuse in Zipporah so like I said, I don't believe that there are any real grounds for a criminal investigation."

"Oh great," Tony smiled and relaxed slightly in his chair. "So, we'll e able to take the girls home tonight then right?"

"Well . . . You'll need to wait for CPS to give you the all clear on that front . . . And I dunno what happens in Israeli courts but they may have something to say about this."

"Oh right . . . Yeah I forgot about them." he sighed despondently, stroking Zippy's hair, she turned to look up at him smiling,

"Home now?" she asked, full of optimism, only to be disappointed when he shook his head again.

"No, not yet honey," he wrapped his arms around her tightly as she slumped back down again. McNeill studied them closely while they sat in silence.

"You know, I'm sorry about this- I don't really know much about your situation but it's pretty clear to see the girl's happy with you."

"Yeah well, I know how it is, you don't get to choose what you investigate."

"Yeah, and you know I had a pretty bitter custody battle myself and you know this kind of stunts-they don't look good." McNeill set brightly and Tony smiled, appreciating his effort.

"Yeah you're right, that's what the lawyer said too. He's gonna fix everything and we don't have to worry about anything."

"Well exactly, I'm sure he's right, he knows the laws in Israel better than us right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." Tony said pensively, while thinking that if Omri was capable of causing all this upset with one phone call from thousands of miles away, what else could he do?


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey, this chapter is mega long! thought about splitting it up but then decided not too in the end so here it is! thanks for all the reviews again! ps i wrote this all this evening, i have tried proof reading but you may have noticed that i have no kind of patience for that lol. Anyway i did a spell checker and i have a feeling that i accidentally let it change a word to david, can't find it again so i may just have imagined it and since i can't think of anyword close to it i probably did! i could say that first person to find the random david gets a prize! make reading this more interesting lol! **

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"I think we got the most complicated tent in the history of the WORLD!" Rhea dropped to the ground, sprawling her legs out as she surveyed their handiwork, "It took sooooo long to build!" Angie stuck her head out of the flap grinning,

"I know! Can't believe it's finally done, isn't it cool though? Ours is well the best tent and Jay and Aiden aren't even finished theirs yet." the two girls laughed and shouted over to the boys struggling with their last few tent pegs. "See told you we'd beat you, that means you have to take ours down too on Monday!" Aiden and Jay stared at them and their tent for a second before bursting out laughing themselves.

"Yeah well should be easy, look at it! No way will it even still be standing by then!"

"Yeah right, just cause you lost to a bunch of girls," Angie taunted,

"Uhm, girls," Leora popped her head over the top of the tent, "I think they might be right,"

"What? Don't say that our tent is perfect, we spent ages building it!" Rhea whined at her from the floor,

"Yeah I know, but what the hell are these for then?" the snorted and brandished two poles in the air, prompting her friends to descend into a fit of giggles.

"I heard that Leora! This is a school trip please watch your language!" their teacher Mr Burrows shouted across to them as he strolled over,

"Oh come on, that's not even swearing!" Angie complained while Leora turned to face the man,

"I am sorry sir, how about what on earth are these for?"

"Much better!" he smiled and examined the poles, "And I have no idea girls," Leo dropped them and went to sit next to her friends, who were still laughing.

"I think that they must just be spares," she announced, Rhea and Angie nodded enthusiastically while Mr Burrows placed a hand on top of their tent, causing it to wobble dangerously.

"Hmmm girls, I have my doubts. Come on; try again quickly before we do our first survey of the plant life on the forest floor!"

"Noooo! It's too _hard_! Can't we just sleep in one of the shelters? That's what my dad and brothers do when they go hiking!" Angie groaned and fixed a hopeful grin on her teacher, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No, we're camping! Now come on Angela better get cracking we need to start counting the ferns!" He said brightly, "Now, I'm away to look out the clipboards and if your done by the time I'm finished I'll give you first choice of colours!" he smiled and watched them reluctantly struggle to their feet, "See! Everyone always wants a red one!" Mr Burrows laughed and turned to walk away, he had only reached the other side of their tent when his phone rang.

"Hello? . . . Oh hi, we're almost all set up he . . . Oh," He paused, "Ooooooh," he said gravely and turned to look at the girls, "Why? . . . Oh I see . . . Will they come here because it would be difficult for me with all the . . . Oh, alright then." He hung up and placed his phone back in his pocket. Heaving in a deep breath he started back towards them, "Leora, that was the park ranger." he licked his lip nervously. "There's a policeman here for you." Rhea and Angie gasped and stepped closer to Leo who was staring back at him in confusion.

"What? Why?" She finally asked,

"I, I don't know, he didn't say. They are going to drive as far up as they can, they'll be here in about twenty minutes."

"But, but, I don't understand. Why is he here? Why me? I haven't done anything." Leo stared at him angrily, but he could only shrug helplessly,

"I'm sure you haven't but I know no more than you." he tried to smile reassuringly but it had no effect on her,

"Leo, have you really not done anything? C'mon. . . you can tell us!" Rhea hissed, not very subtly, into her ear. Leo just shook her head slowly before she suddenly gasped,

"Has something happened? To Zippy? Or Ziva? IT must be Ziva because she would have come herself if something was wrong with Zippy. Or sent Tony. Maybe something happened to Tony! Or all of them!" she stepped towards Mr Burrows, "Call them back!" she demanded, "I need to speak to them!"

"I only have the number for the Ranger Base, they'll be on their way by now. I'm sure it's nothing like that, don't worry," he said soothingly, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. Rhea and Angie slid forwards and wrapped an arm around each side of her.

"Yeah I'm sure it's nothing serious," Angie whispered to her,

"Yeah, nothing like what happened to your mum," Rhea added, Leo gasped and Angie shot Rhea an angry look,

"WHAT? Oh yeah nice one!"

"No, all I was trying to say is . . . Well y'know, there's only so much bad luck in the world and Leo's already had her fair share of it so this can't be that bad!" Angie continued glaring at her for a few seconds before pointing a finger at her,

"You! You are no longer allowed to talk!" she growled before returning her arm to Leo's side, "just ignore her, you know what she's like."

"I was only trying to help!"

"By bringing up the . . ." Angie caught herself before saying the f-word and glanced at Leo's face, she wasn't listening to them but instead was staring straight ahead. "Leo?"

"I could phone Ziva!" Leo exclaimed, "I cannot believe that I did not think of that!" she smiled and pulled her phone dialling quickly. It rang and rang and rang, but there was no reply. Biting her lip she closed her phone, "She did not answer."

"Well . . . Maybe she never heard it."

"She always hears it, she must never be unreachable." Mr Burrows stepped towards her again.

"Well . . . Maybe that's it, maybe she's been called into work." he said encouragingly but Leo just shook her head.

"No, not today. Why the police anyway?"

"Well . . . Hmmmm." He didn't know what to say.

"I will try Tony this time." she flipped her phone back open when they heard the sound of an engine close by, they all turned to stare in it's direction, even the rest of the camp who had began to notice the tension.

"What's going on." one of the boys shouted from his tent.

"Nothing Darren." Mr Burrows replied as the Park Ranger appeared through the trees accompanied by a uniformed officer.

"MR Burrows, this is Officer Barker," the Ranger introduced him gruffly while the policeman scanned group.

"Hi there, I'm looking for Leora Peled."

"I am Leora Peled," Leo replied before her teacher had even opened his mouth. "Why are you here? What has happened?"

"Well it's a bit of a complicated situation . . ."

"Is my sister alright?" she practically shouted, despite trying desperately not to lose it in front of her classmates.

"Oh yeah your sister's fine It's nothing' like that."

""Well then, what is it?"

"Maybe we should wait till we're in the car to talk about it, rather than . . . Here." he replied, nodding towards the other kids.

"No, I would rather you told me now please."

"Well, Ms David, your guardian right?" Leora nodded, "Well she's been arrested . . ."

"What?"

"For kidnapping you and your sister."

"WHAT!" Leora yelled at him, "ARE YOU," she paused and drew in a deep breath, feeling many pairs of eyes burning the back of her neck, "Are you serious?"

"Yep, so you need to come with me so that child protection services can. . ."

"Child what? No! Are you taking us into, into, into an institution?" she stammered, looking for the right word through her anger,

"Well no, I think you and your sister are going to be interviewed to find out if these allegations are true."

"I can tell you that right now! They are not true! Is this my father's doing? Of course it is, of course."

"Well, all I know is that I gotta take you back to the city ok so do you want to grab your stuff?"

"No, no I do not want to grab my stuff! I want to know what is going to happen to us! Are we going to be sent back?" she demanded fiercely but Barker just shrugged apologetically,

"Look honey, I don't know is I gotta take you back ok? I'm basically a taxi driver alright so if you're ready we'll get going."

"I am not going anywhere with you! I do not believe you, I, I, I do not understand why you are doing this." she pulled open her phone,

"Hey kid, what you doing? Let's just . . ."

"Wait I am phoning Tony!" she shouted at him, he just stared at her blankly,

Tony was still pondering what other possible schemes Omri could be planning when his phone started to ring, he pulled it out, "Oh God, Leora, should have phoned her earlier." he cursed himself as her answered,

"Leo? Where are you? You Ok?"

"Tony! What is going on? There is a policeman here, at my camp. He wants me to go with him."

"Yeah, yeah I just heard. I'm at the police station just now they have Ziva."

"Are you arrested too?"

"No, no I just had to take in your papers and stuff."

"Where is Zippy is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's here she's fine," he looked down at the little girl who was slumped dejectedly against his chest, both hands gripping his suit jacket as tightly as possible, "Well fine-ish,"

"Let me speak to her."

"Hey, Zippy, it's Leo on the phone," he tapped on her head, dragging her out of her trancelike state,

"LEO! Where Leo?" she gasped excitedly, launching up for the phone. "LEO!" she shouted into the handset, "LEO!"

"_Zippy, are you ok?"_

"_NO! I am very, very sad. Bad men took Zizi. Bad men."_ she whimpered, "_Tony come for me, butt we stayin here."_

"_Don't worry baby, everything's going to be ok."_

"_You coming for me? Then we go home?" _

"_I'll see you soon Zippy ok? Very soon."_

"_Soon?"_

"_Yes, soon. Let me speak to Tony again please"_

"_Ok, Leo love you!"_

"_I love you too Zippy, we'll be ok." Leo reassured her as she passed the phone back to Tony,_

"_Hey,"_

"_So I have to go with the man."_

"_Yeah, I'm afraid so. Don't worry though, it won't be for long the detective here thinks it's not a good case so we should get it all straightened out. Benjamin is very excited about this; he say's its going to be good for Ziva's case."_

"_Oh, ok then." she replied quietly, "I guess I'll see you later then . . . Will I?"_

"_Yeah of course. I will definitely see you later. It's all going to be fine."_

"_Ok, bye then."_

"_Bye." Tony hung up and looked up at McNeill, "Well, that's Leora picked up." the detective nodded,_

"_Well, if she says that she's happy with you and doesn't want to go back to her father then we'll get all this sorted out pronto!"_

"_Yeah, I guess." they lapsed back into a contemplative silence until the phone on the desk sprang into life._

"_Hello? Oh right. Ok send her up." he replaced the handset and looked up. "That's the woman from CPS here, finally." he explained as he stood up. "I'll go out and meet her." Tony watched him disappear into the corridor and Zippy squirmed on his knee, turning to look up at him._

"_What happen?"_

"_Well, a lady is going to come and talk to you." _

"_Me?"_

"_Yes." she frowned at him._

"_Why."_

"_She wants to know if you like staying with Zizi." she nodded vigorously._

"_Love Zizi."_

"_Well, say that then ok?" she nodded again. _

"_K,"_

"_Mr DiNozzo, this is Mrs McLeod from CPS," McNeill had returned with the officer, who was staring severely at Tony. He jumped to his feet, taking Zippy with him, and reached out to shake her hand._

"_Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you," he grinned at hr charmingly, "This is Zipporah," he nodded downwards to the little girl, who was clinging to his chest,_

"_Hello Zippy, my name's Catherine," she bent down, here cold expression quickly replaced by a warm and friendly one, but it had no effect as Zippy just stared at her nervously. "We're going to have a little chat, is that alright sweetheart?" she continued undeterred but Zippy remained silent._

"_She has trouble with the language sometimes, so she might not understand everything you're saying." Tony explained quickly, "So, maybe interviewing her alone isn't really going to work so well, especially since she's scared."_

"_Well, no wonder she's scared if she has been kidnapped or held against her will Mr DiNozzo." she replied sharply._

"_She hasn't been kidnapped! It's just her father making trou . . ."_

"_I am aware of the details thank you." she pursed her lips, "Were you suggesting that you come in with her while we are speaking? Because frankly, I think you have had quite enough contact with Zipporah considering she is at the centre of a kidnapping investigation which, I believe, involves you. Some might say that were irresponsible." she remarked meaningfully,_

"_Hey! He's not being investigated and the girl calmed right down with him alright, don't start that with me!" McNeill butted in angrily, incensed at her insinuations. She opened her mouth to respond but Tony jumped instead._

"_Well, yeah I could come in . . ."_

"_I think not!" _

"_Well how about her sister? She can help her speak to you, she needs someone with her."_

"_No, I must speak to her alone. Do you think She is the first child I have ever dealt with who does not speak English? I can assure you, she will be fine." Tony met her icy stare with just as much determination before finally conceding defeat. _

"_Fine," he said bitterly as she bent down to Zippy's level again,_

"_Ok honey, shall we go then and have a nice little chat?" she reached out her hand but Zippy shrank away._

"_Pickle" she whimpered, "Pickle no want to!" she stared up at him desperately, he smiled down at her,_

"_It's alright." he turned his attention to Mrs McLeod, "Where are you going to do this?" _

"_The family liaison room is free I think, you can do it in there it's got sofas and stuff. Would be the best place I think." McNeill answered on her behalf, "This way," he started walking out of the room so Tony followed with the CPS woman close behind. A short walk down the corridor and they had arrived, McNeill pushed the door open to reveal a bright room with inviting brown sofas inside. "Here we are."_

"_Thank you," Mrs McLeod strode in placed her briefcase onto the coffee table. "Alright," she raised an eyebrow at Tony so he followed her in and placed Zippy down onto one of the soft cushions. He straightened up,_

"_Pickle!" Zippy held her arms back up, "No go!" she started crying again, tears slipped out of her eyes and began to slowly wind there way down her cheeks. "Stay"_

"_I'll be right outside, right there." he pointed at the floor in the corridor. "Not far ok?" she shook her head, sniffling._

"_No, no k." he bent down and kissed her head softly,_

"_Don't cry Zippy, it's alright. I won't be far, I promise." he reluctantly stood up and started towards the door, but turned when he heard the sound of Zippy wriggling off her seat, "No, you stay here, with Catherine, just for a little while." he walked backwards the rest of the way until he was just outside the door. "And I'll be right here." he attempted to smile reassuringly at her, trying to hide how badly it wrenched his heart to see the little girl standing alone, crying._

"_There," she pointed at him. "'romise?"_

"_Yes, I won't move." he said as he reached forward to shut the door, just as Mrs McLeod sat down next to her._

_Tony hovered outside the door for the next twenty minutes. McNeill had brought him a coffee after five and told him that it would probably be a while until they were finished but Tony decided to wait there, just in case Zippy finished and he wasn't there. He tried to listen into what was going on inside the room, but he could hear nothing through the door so he began pacing up and down, waiting for Zippy to come back out. After another five minutes the door finally swung open again and Mrs McLeod emerged, holding Zippy's hand. _

"_Pickle!" Zippy ran to him and he swept her up into his arms, her face was stained with tears but she had calmed down significantly._

"_Well? How'd it go? What did she say?"_

"_I'm afraid I can't discuss the details with you. Where's Detective McNeill?" _

"_I uh am not sure, I guess he's at his desk . . . Or actually just coming now." he answered, seeing McNeill emerge from his bullpen._

"_Well, How'd it go?" he repeated Tony's question,_

"_I would like to speak to speak with Ms David and the older sister before I make any firm decisions." she replied, "I would like to do that now if it's possible, if you could have an officer remain with Zippy."_

"_I'll stay with her!" Tony snapped,_

"_Well I don't really think that's very appropriate to be honest."_

"_What did she say? Did she say anything that makes you think that we've done anything to her?" she stared at him for a second,_

"_Well, I would like an officer to be present at least." _

"_Fine no problem, Hey Tan!" he shouted and a few seconds later his partners head popped out of a door. "Take Mrs McLeod to interview Ziva David would ya?"_

"_Yeah alright," Tan stepped into the corridor and beckoned for the woman to follow him. McNeill turned and gestured for Tony to re-enter the family room. They sat down on the sofas,_

"_Well, I guess it can't have gone that badly if she let you stay with the girl." the detective said brightly._

"_Yeah I guess so." Tony, mumbled as Zippy curled up against his chest again. _

_Ziva's head shot up when the door to the interrogation room opened and The CPS officer walked in._

"_Ziva David?" Ziva sprang up from her position on the floor and nodded._

"_Yes,"_

"_Catherine McLeod, Child Protection Services." she held out her hand and Ziva shook it, squeezing her strongly._

"_You are here to decide whether the girls should be allowed to stay with me or sent back to their . . . That man."_

"_I am here to decide whether you can look after the girls satisfactorily." The two women eyed each other up silently for a few seconds until Ziva abruptly sat down._

"_Well, let us get started then, so we can deal with this as quickly as possible." Mrs McLeod took the seat in front of her and pulled out a notepad. "Have you spoken to Zipporah." she nodded her head. "And Leora?"_

"_Not yet." the officer didn't look up as she answered, too busy filling out part of a form. "Aren't you going to ask me what Zippy said?"_

"_I have no need to ask. I know that she is happy here." McLeod looked up and raised her eyebrows,_

"_Is that right?"_

"_Oh yes, that is right." another few moments of silence befell them as they stared at each other coolly._

"_Well then, first thing's first; how did the girls come to be in your care?"_

"_Their mother, my best friend, died"_

"_So you just took them?"_

"_No, they were already living with me then, they all were, so I just let them stay on. They have no where else to go." Ziva spoke slowly and deliberately, keeping her frustration in check._

"_Where are you living with the girls at the moment?"_

"_In my partner's apartment, that is just temporary though. Until mine is . . . Repaired." _

"_Mmmmmhmmmm," she scribbled something down, unaware that Ziva was struggling with the urge to grab her pen and use it gouge her judgemental little eyes out. "So, do you think that is a good environment to raise the girls in?"_

"_Like I said it is not permanent, they have there own room."_

"_You work as an NCIS agent I see."_

"_Yes."_

"_Long hours?"_

"_Sometimes."_

"_Well, how does that work with the girls? How are you looking after them?"_

"_We get them up in the morning and drop Zipporah off at pre-school, and then we get back at around half past six in the evening."_

"_Where are the girls then?"_

"_AT home."_

"_Alone?"_

"_Well, Leora is almost fifteen; she looks after her sister for a couple of hours."_

"_Mmmmmhhmmmmm."_

"_Many girls her age babysit, there is nothing wrong with that." Ziva added, defensively_

"_What about in the night-time, do you get called out to crime scenes?"_

"_Occasionally."_

"_Well then what happens then?"_

"_It has only happened once in two months."_

"_What did you do?" _

"_I told Leora that we had to go."_

"_So she had to get her sister up and ready and drop her at pre school?"_

"_Well . . . Yes, but just the one time." Ziva brandished one raised finger at her, before carefully reining her temper back in._

"_Don't you think that's a lot of responsibility to lay on a fourteen year old?"_

"_I had far more responsibilities when I was fourteen, as I am sure many teenagers do." she replied coolly, raising her own eyebrows this time. _

"_Well, that may well be but we are talking about your specific situation. Don't you think that's a lot of pressure on a girl who has just lost her mother?" the air was heavy with tension as Ziva slowly thought over her answer._

"_It is a responsibility yes, but I do not think that that is a bad thing. She loves her sister Zipporah is a very good girl, it is not difficult."_

"_So, is this how you are planning to continue living?"_

"_No, I plan to get a nanny in the future."_

"_in the future?"_

"_When I have room for one, as you pointed out I would probably need one to live in." _

"_So you plan on leaving them in someone else's care?" Ziva sighed deeply and rubbed her forehead gently, _

"_Only when I am working."_

"_Which I suppose is quite a lot." Ziva didn't reply, she just made her hands into tight fists trying to squeeze out some of her anger._

"_Have you ever looked after children before?" _

"_No."_

"_So you have gone from being single to having two children."_

"_They lived for me for a couple of months before their mother died, I know how to take care of them." her voice was becoming more and more strained as she battled to retain her composure._

"_And yet you seem to rely an awful lot on Leora."_

"_She is happy to help with her sister."_

"_Are you sure she hasn't been forced into doing it because you do not know how to look after them." Ziva slammed her palms down onto the desk, making it shake violently._

"_No, she does it because her only other option is to go back to Israel and her father. She is happy to be anywhere and do anything that saves her from that faith. I can look after the girls and I can protect them from him." she spat furiously at her interviewer who was staring calmly back at her._

"_You seem to a have trouble controlling your anger." was her only comment, _

"_Oh!" Ziva slapped the desk again and pushed herself up, turning upwards the wall._

"_No, no it is you and your questions; you are deliberately trying to . . ."_

"_Ms David," McLeod sighed and folded her arms, "What exactly makes you think that you are capable of raising these two girls?" _


	23. Chapter 23

Tony had long since crushed his plastic coffee cup but continued to squeeze it, allowing a tiny fraction of his pent-up frustration to escape. He rolled it around in his palm for a few more seconds, causing a loud crunching sound to fill the room, before finally leaning forwards and dropping it onto the table. McNeill slouched back into his sofa, relieved that his ears were no longer being assaulted by the cup's crackling, and observed Tony as he fidgeted with his phone.

"I can't get through to Leora," he announced suddenly, "Why's that? Have they taken her phone?"

"I don't know, maybe I guess."

"Does it normally take this long? For the interview?"

"I don't know, I'm not usually involved in this kind of thing." Tony pursed his lips and uncrossed his legs, careful not to disturb Zipporah who had fallen asleep around twenty minutes earlier. The late night and the stress had caught up with her and she had curled up next to him, leaning her head on his lap. The worried expression had left her face and her cheeks were no longer stained with tears, instead they were pulsing gently as she sucked her thumb. After a minute of silence Tony spoke again,

"Do you think it's a good sign or a bad sign that it's been this long? She's been in with Ziva for more than an hour."

"I don't know, it's hard to tell."

"Why DON'T you know? What kind of an investigation is this? Do you know anything?" Tony exploded suddenly, staring furiously at the detective who looked back sympathetically.

"Look Tony I . . ."

"Yeah, yeah I know, it's not you're thing. Sorry." he paused, his rage had faded as quickly as it had erupted, "I'm just not used to being on this side, not knowing what's happening." he stroked Zippy's hair slowly as he spoke, wrapping his fingers around her pleat he could feel that it was still slightly damp from the swimming pool. That morning felt so long it seemed like days since he had dropped Leo off for her camp, she had been so excited.

"Tell you what, I'll go and see if I can find out if she's almost done with Ziva ok?"

"What, and leave me ALONE with Zippy?" Tony smiled half-heartedly at him,

"Oh I think I'll risk it." McNeill laughed as he stood up and made his way to the door. He pulled it open to reveal Mrs McLeod looming in the hallway,

"Whoa, speak of the devil," Tony muttered darkly, earning him a sharp look from the officer before she turned to the detective,

"Going somewhere were you Detective McNeill? Leaving Mr DiNozzo alone with Zippy?"

"No . . ." McNeill replied nervously, "I heard you coming so I was just getting the door for you." He smiled at her cheerfully, and hopefully, convincingly.

"Yes I'm sure." she relied curtly before reverting her gaze to Tony.

"Well? What now? Can I take Zippy home? Look she's completely wiped."

"Not quite. I want to take her with me for now."

"WHAT?" Tony yelled and leapt to his feet, "What do you mean you want to take her with you? Why? Where?"

"I wish to interview her sister before I make any concrete decisions, also I would like to speak to the sisters together- away from you and Miss David."

"But, no, no you can't just take them away for no reason! They're fine with us!" the commotion had woken Zippy, she sat up and wiped her eyes sleepily.

"Pickle," she said quietly, slowly coming to. She yawned and reached out and tugged on his arm, "Pickle, go home now?" she asked hopefully. Tony turned and picked her up, holding her firmly to his chest,

"See, she wants to come home with me!"

"Mr DiNozzo, I need to ensure that . . ."

"The girls are fine, you can't just take them away!"

"Pickle, what happen?" Zippy whispered nervously, gripping onto him tightly- sensing his anger.

"It's ok Zippy," he replied, "Look, how about I come too, I'll just sit in like a waiting room or something while you speak to the girls, just to keep Zippy calm. I'll stay well out of the way and then when you're done . . ."

"Come on Mr DiNozzo, surely you know that's not the way it works. You can't come with us."

"But why? We've not done anything wrong, they're not our victims why can't I just come and wait for them?"

"Look, this is a complicated issue, I need to be sure of yours and Ms David's ability and right to care for these children. If you were involved in this kind of investigation you would want to ensure the girls' safety too wouldn't you? I'm just trying to do my best for them." Her voice became softer and more calming as she spoke, carefully trying to avoid antagonising Tony further.

"But, we're what's best for them." he replied fiercely, stepping back and squeezing Zippy tighter.

"Pickle, pickle, what happen?" she whimpered, her lip beginning to quiver slightly,

"Mr DiNozzo, let's try to keep this as calm as possible ok? There's no need to make this situation anymore difficult than it already is. You know you have to give her to me for now, the quicker I can get going the quicker this can be resolved ok?" she stepped closer to him, he sighed and nodded slowly.

"Ok, ok." he whispered softly, accepting defeat he slowly sank to his knees, depositing Zippy on the ground. She kept her hands on his shoulders, staring wide eyed at him as she desperately tried to work out what was going on.

"Pickle?"

"Zippy you're going to go with Mrs McLeod for a little while ok?"

"You too?" he shook his head, "Yes come," she tugged at him but he remained still.

"No, no this is you're adventure, you're going to go exploring, like Dora!" he told her brightly but she remained unconvinced.

"Where Zizi?"

"She's on an adventure too, but not for long."

"When she come back."

"Soon, very soon, just like you."

"No, no stay with Pickle." she said empathically, setting her jaw in determination.

"Zippy, Hi Zippy." Mrs McLeod spoke suddenly, catching the little girl's attention.

"Hallo Kathy," She replied, turning to look at her,

"You're coming with me for a little while ok?" she held out a hand encouragingly but zippy shook her head and shrank back against Tony.

"No thank you, stay with Pickle."

"I'm sorry, you have to come with me darling." Mrs McLeod almost sang in an effort to appear cheerful and friendly.

"No, no, no, Pickle!" she slipped around to face Tony again, "Pickle, Pickle peeeeaaaase!" she begged, her face crumpling as fat tears reappeared in her eyes.

"Zippy, it's alright, it's ok." he hugged her tightly and she pressed her face against his shoulder, wailing loudly into his ear,

"No stay, stay! Pickle! Zizi!" she tried to clamber onto him, attempting to wrap her legs around his waist to hold on doubly tight. He reluctantly pushed her back, she struggled against him desperately but soon she was standing in front of him, still holding onto his forearms. Tears were streaming in a torrent down her cheeks as she stood, her held tilted back slightly as she screamed into the air.

"Zippy, Zippy please don't," Tony begged her as he brushed away some of her tears, "It's alright, don't cry." he wrapped his arms around her again but this time she remained still, letting her arms flop down at her sides.

"Mr DiNozzo, I really think this is becoming a little too upsetting for her. I think we should just go now."

"Oh do you? Do you really think this is getting to upsetting for her? Well maybe you should reconsider dragging her away!" he hissed back angrily, again pulling Zippy away from him he began to gently brush away some of her tears before using his shirt sleeve to wipe away some of the snot streaming out of her nose before it ran into her mouth. He paused and held her face in his hands, stroking her cheeks softly.

"Leo will be there won't she?" he asked Mrs McLeod,

"Yes, she should be arriving around the same time as us," she confirmed.

"See Zippy, Leo will be with you ok?" he tried to sound as normal as possible, fighting against the choking sensation tightening around his throat. He leant forward and kissed her, leaning his forehead against hers briefly before leaning back and slowly standing up.

"Pickle" Zippy choked, reaching up to him, "Please!", Tony looked down at her, his chest ached as he fought the urge to succumb to her begging. Biting his lip he shook his head,

"It's ok, just for a little while," he whispered as Mrs McLeod reached forwards and took one of the little girl's hands.

"Come on now sweetheart, we'll go meet your sister now ok?" she tugged gently but Zippy wrenched herself away,

"No, no, no come!" she screamed, "No!" she crouched down, tucking her arms against her stomach so the officer couldn't reach them. Mrs McLeod sighed, bent down and scooped Zippy up. The little girl screeched hysterically and writhed against her but the woman's grip was firm.

"I know this is difficult to see but once we get going I'm sure she'll calm down. And then she'll see her sister in a little while too so she won't be like this for long." Mrs McLeod tried to reassure Tony as she turned to go, "I'll be in touch regarding my findings," she added, heading towards the door. Zippy swirled round in her arms to look over her shoulder, flinging her hands out to Tony.

"PICKLE!! PICKLE!! PLEEEEEAAAASE NO!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her face screwed up as desperate tears flew out of her eyes, "Pickle!!" she screamed again before choking on her sobs as she disappeared out of the room. Tony closed his own eyes, feeling hot tears threatening to escape as Zippy's cries continued to echo down the hallway. He suddenly sprang forwards and ran out of the door, in time to see Mrs McLeod and Zippy enter the lift, it slid shut and the corridor fell silent. He gasped and leant back onto the wall, his legs felt weak as exhaustion suddenly flooded his body. He ran his hands through his hair while McNeill joined him in the hall. The detective stood quietly, not sure what to say so he just reached out and patted Tony on the shoulder.

"I'll go and see about releasing Ziva, we're not holding her on a criminal charge." he finally spoke. Tony nodded slowly,

"Ok, ok, I'll just . . . Tell her I'll see her outside." he replied quietly. He straightened up and turned away, slowly walking towards the lift in a daze, not quite able to comprehend what had just happened. McNeill watched as he slowly made his way down the corridor, shaking his head he turned around and headed in the opposite direction.

Tony sat on the wall outside, his legs dangling about half a foot of the ground. He was staring at his shoes as he swung them side to side while he waited. HE was trying to push the sounds of Zippy's heart breaking screams from his ears and the sight of her arms stretched out towards him as McLeod carried her away from his eyes. He leant back and began staring at the sky instead, it was beginning to dull down as dusk approached, he could hear birds singing happily in the trees which lined the street but even that couldn't drown out Zippy's cries. He didn't notice Ziva until she appeared right next to him and said,

"She took Zippy"

"Yes." he choked in reply,

"How was she?"

"It was awful." he slid off the wall and stood in front of her for a few seconds, she looked terrible, almost as bad as he felt- maybe even worse. Her hair had exploded into a prickly mass of curls after the swimming while her face was pale with thick dark circles smudged under her eyes. They continued staring at each other silently for a few more seconds before he abruptly turned and lead her towards the car.


	24. Chapter 24

**I got a few messages from people confused about the last chapter so I'll try and make it clearer. Ziva was released because the police decided that she had not commited a crime, as had been suggested by Omri. Also, Ziva only has a will in which Hannah states her wishes regarding the girls however, "if a will with details of guardianship is contested then Social Services are legally obliged to step in and either (a): make a recommendation for guardianship themselves or (b): remove children into foster care until such times as the conditions of the will have been clarified." In any case, when there is a surviving parent then the will is practically irrelevant as it doesn't matter what kind of person Omri is he still has full parental rights. The only way that Ziva will be able to get custody is by having Omri declared an unfit parent in court or by getting him to relinquish parental rights. The will was important as when Hannah names Ziva as guardian she has to give a detailed explanation of why, which would back her up to the police. I am basing this on British law but I am assuming that American law is not wildly different and also I have no idea how the whole Israel-American thing would go down cause like I said before I'm no lawyer! Anyway, I know I am probably bending a few rules here but hey, it's my story! Hope that cleared it up and thanks for all your feedback! x**

* * *

"What did she ask you?" Tony finally broke the silence engulfing the car.

"She asked many questions, about our life, how the girls are cared for and how I plan to look after them in the future." she replied monotonously and continued to stare out the window.

"Oh," he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and, "Well, how do you think it went? How did she seem?"

"I do not know Tony, I have no idea." she sighed, still not looking at him while she spoke. They slipped back into silence while Ziva gazed at the passing streets, apparently deep in thought. Tony frowned at the back of her head, he had expected her to emerge from the interrogation spitting fire but instead she was limp and defeated. He wasn't sure what to say he had never known Ziva to be so quiet before and he found it extremely disturbing, especially considering the day's events. He began raking his brain for some appropriate words of comfort before giving up, after seeing Zippy being taken away he wasn't in much of a mood for talking either.

After another twenty minutes of strained silence the arrived back at his flat, still neither of them talked until he shut the door behind them and Ziva pulled out her mobile. She stared at for a moment before turning towards the bedroom.

"I think I will go and phone Benjamin,"

"Yeah, probably a good idea." he called after her as she disappeared through the door. He sighed and shrugged off his jacket, leaving it slung over the sofa. Then he headed into the kitchen and took a bottle of whisky and a glass from a cupboard before returning to the living room and sinking into a chair. He poured himself a large measure and then slumped back into the cushions, staring at the wall. He emptied his glass rapidly and refilled it, this time sipping slowly while he wondered what the girls were doing, if they were ok, what Benjamin was saying to Ziva. Hopefully he had worked it all out, or at least knew what was likely to happen next. It was just then, when he was thinking about the lawyer, that he realised that no sound was coming from the bedroom. Looking over his shoulder he could see that the door was open, clearly she hadn't phoned yet. He stood up, leaving his beer on the coffee table, and strode towards the other room. He peered inside and saw her; she was standing with her back towards him staring out of the window.

"Ziva?" she jumped and spun round, even her ninja skills were out of sorts,

"Tony."

"Did you call Benjamin then?" She pursed her lips and turned back to the window,

"I am thinking." she said quietly,

"Oh, about what?" There was a long pause until she responded,

"About many things Tony. About what I should do next. I think that I should decide before I phone Benjamin."

"What? What do you mean "decide what to do next?", you're going to have to get the girls back." he furrowed his brows in confusion,

"After that Tony, about the future, what to do about that."

"Ziva, I don't understand what you're talking about, I thought that you would have to go to Israel and get custody of the girls."

"Yes, that is what I would have to do." she paused again and he could hear her swallow loudly before she continued. "If I wanted custody."

"What? IF you want custody? What are you talking about?" Tony strode into the middle of the room where he stopped and placed his hands on his hips, waiting for her to respond.

"I think that maybe I am not the right person to look after the girls," the words rushed from her mouth on one breath, forcing Tony into a brief, stunned silence. He shook his head in disbelief for a few seconds as he tried to process her statement.

"Are you serious? So what are you going to do, just send them back to Israel? I don't get it, this morning, yesterday, last week, all this time you've been saying how terrible that guy is and how oh you'll never let them go back there and now you have just suddenly changed your mind?"

"I have not changed my mind about him," she spun around and met his confused eyes with her own before dropping them down again, "I have changed my mind about me."

"So if you don't want them to go back to him then what do you . . ."

"I think that their grandparents would be the best carers for them, they are . . ."

"What? That's not true! You can't be . . ."

"I am serious Tony, they are their real family, they will have a better chance at winning custody and . . ."

"A family isn't just about blood Ziva! So what if they are related? They haven't seen the girls in what, a year? Two years? Zippy probably doesn't even remember them!"

"Only because Omri stopped them seeing each other and before Hannah and the girls came here Zippy barely knew me either! Sol and Amia can give the girls all of their time and Israel is their home, they can care for them better than I can."

"If Hannah thought that then she would have named them guardians but she didn't, she chose you!"

"When Hannah made her will she depressed and ill, she was not thinking clearly when she made that choice."

"Oh well that's excellent Ziva, remember that one for court." Tony snapped and turned away from her,

"I am saying that I am not going to court, why are you being like this? This does not really involve you."

"This doesn't involve me?" he whirled back round and moved forwards until he was just inches from her, staring down at her face. "OF COURSE THIS INVOLVES ME! You brought them into my house, I have been here for them just as much as you have, they are . . ." he roared at her, infuriated by her callousness,

"Yes, you have been here, but it is me that will always have to be there Tony. What made me think that I could raise them? I do not know how to deal with children! I have no business . . ."

"That' not true either, you have looked after kids plenty of time and you are always good with them!"

"It is different drawing a picture or playing with a child for an hour, I would have to keep them forever. I do not know how to raise children. Look at how I was raised! That is all I know!" Ziva screamed at him, her face flushed with emotion.

"Well if you're going to use that kind of logic then really you should be thinking that if Sol and Amia produced Omri then their techniques can't be great!"

"That is not the same. . ."

"Anyway, you wouldn't be like that, you know what not to do and that's just as important! Just like I know sending you're kid from boarding school to summer camp and back isn't the best plan. Besides, parents never know what to do with a child, they don't come with a manual or something, you don't get a practice baby- everyone I thrown in at the deep end!"

"It is easy for you to say these things, you are not the one who is going to be tied down forever." she whispered and turned to walk back towards the bed. Tony frowned and followed her,

"Tied down?" he hissed. "How can you go from saying you'll do anything for them to that?" he felt his anger churning around inside him, threatening to erupt at any moment.

"Because I was only thinking of the short term fight, I was not thinking of the future. I cannot do this."

"WHY NOT?" he strode away from her towards the window where he stopped and placed his hands on his hips,

"BECAUSE!"

"WHAT?"

"Because, they need someone to love them and care for them and hold them and I just cannot do that. It is just not me I am too . . . Cold" she replied quietly, sinking down onto the bed.

"What? Ziva, that's not true."

"Yes, yes it is. People say it all the time and I always denied it but . . . I think that they are right now."

"Ziva, no one who really knows you thinks you're cold." his voice softened dramatically when he turned and saw her slouching on the mattress,

"Abby did,"

"What? That was ages ago and she was just angry." Ziva was staring at the carpet, shaking her head at his words. "Ziva you are one of the most . . ."

"If it were your children you would not leave them with me Tony, would you?" she suddenly jerked her head up and stared at him, she looked more vulnerable than he had ever seen her. Her eyes were wide and pleading, begging for him to either comfort her pr confirm her fears-showing that she was making the right decision. He was surprised by her demeanour that he took a few seconds to gather his thoughts, which she took as an affirmation. "You see, I am right. You can argue all you want but if it were to come to it, you would not want me looking after your children."

"Ziva, no." he walked towards her, "That's not true, there's no one else I'd trust with my kids." he pulled put a chair from the corner and sat down on it in front of her. "If I were to die I would want to know that they would be safe and protected by someone who really knew me." he reached out and gently rubbed her knee, "You, you're," he stuttered slightly before squeezing her authoritatively, "You are my best friend Ziva and there is definitely no one else good enough for my imaginary children." he smiled at her when she finally looked up at him.

"But . . ."

"If I say you're the best woman for the job and Hannah says you're the best woman for the job, the two people who I like to think know you best, then maybe you should jut accept that you are in fact, the best woman for the job." he grinned at her and she bit her lip for a minute before smiling weakly, "Ah-ha! Knew I would win you round."

"Well, you made some convincing arguments." they stared at each other in silence for a full minute before Ziva abruptly pulled out her phone, "I will call Benjamin now."

"To find out what the plan is?" he asked nervously,

"Yes, to find out what the plan is." she reassured him, patting his cheek gently.

"Right, you do that and I'll call in some dinner." he sprung to his feet while she frowned at him,

"Could you really eat at a time like this? Leo and Zippy are being interrogated somewhere and you want to order a pizza?" he stared down at her aghast,

"Hey, I haven't eaten since," he paused and racked his brains, "Since breakfast! . . . Well ok I had some chips but aside from that nothing!" he started towards the door, "And five seconds ago you were packing them off back to Israel so you can't guilt me for wanting something to eat." he let the words slip out before he had a chance to stop them. He spun around to see her lips pursed as guilt swept over her, "But you didn't and that's the main thing so call Ben and see how we get our girls back." he quickly added. She nodded and stood up,

"It is alright, I am not going to change my mind again." she said as she dialled Benjamin's number.

Forty minutes later Tony was back on the sofa, he had moved onto beer- his stomach was not going to be happy in the morning. Reaching out for another slice of pizza he hear Ziva close the bedroom door and walk towards him. He turned around as she approached.

"Well?" he asked anxiously,

"Well," she repeated as she flopped down next to him, "Benjamin is very positive, he says that by tomorrow evening we should have them back home."

"He's sure?"

"He seemed to be, the CPS woman has to write up a report making recommendations regarding the girls' care and that he has persuaded a judge there to accept that as enough documentation to award me de-facto custody until the hearing."

"Well there you go, everything's gonna turn out great."

"Well, that is assuming that her report is favourable to me."

"Pfffffffffffff course it will be. The girls are fine here, I think we're doing pretty well." Ziva sighed deeply and pulled her feet up onto the sofa,

"Hmmmm, I do not know how well my interview went, she made me quite frustrated."

"Yeah well, that's her job. She needs to get inside people's heads it'll be fine." Ziva remained silent for a few moments, ignoring his assurances.

"But like you said, I was ready to send them back, she asked me what made me think I could do this and I could not answer."

"Ziva, I'm telling you it's gonna be fine. Even if you got frustrated in the interview Leora and Zippy are definitely saying how much they want to stay here right now."

"Do you think so?"

"Well yeah! Of course they are, know why?"

"Why?"

"Because, they love you." he answered simply and Ziva winced at his words, squirming uncomfortably next to him.

"If you had not been here I would have called Amia and Sol and asked them to take them. I would have sent them away."

"No you wouldn't have, because you love them too. Geeez for an investigator you're pretty slow sometimes Ziva" Tony finally took a huge bite of his slice while she looked on, biting her lip.

"I should try and get in touch with them, I need to know how they are. I need to know where they are, I  
should not just be sitting here doing nothing." she stood up and turned to head towards his laptop but he  
grabbed her arm before she could take a step,

"Ziva, they won't let you speak to them, not until they are finished evaluating,"

"But I could . . ."

"There's nothing you can do now, Leo will be with Zippy now so she'll have calmed down and Leo, well Leo's Leo so I'm pretty sure she's fine. She's probably tearing strips out of that woman right now." He tugged her arm until she conceded and sank back down next to him. He continued munching through his pizza while she sat quietly. It wasn't until he was sucking the last bit of tomato sauce from his fingers that she suddenly reached out and placed her hand on his thigh.

"Thank you Tony, for today. If you had not been here then I am sure that things would be looking very different right now. I do not know what happened to me- I was just so . . . " she rubbed her thumb across his trousers, Tony looked down at it before reaching down and covering her fingers with his own.

"Well, the point is that I am here." he replied softly, squeezing gently.


	25. Chapter 25

**Leora was marching down a bland grey corridor, irritated by her escort's slow pace. **

"**Almost there!" the woman who had met her at the front doors said brightly, as though she were on her way somewhere exciting. Leo didn't respond to her chirpy statement and continued peering through the blinds of every window they past hoping for a glimpse of her sister. "Here we are." they came to an abrupt stop in front of yet another plane door and the woman swung it open to reveal a small room painted a pale, calming blue. **

"**LEO!" Zippy leapt up from the sofa and ran towards her,**

"_**Hi Zippy, are you ok?"**_** she scooped the little girl up in her arms and cupped her cheek gently,**

"_**Want to go home!"**_** Zippy demanded,**

"_**Yeah I know, me too. It's ok we'll be going soon."**_

"_**Now?"**_

"_**Soon!" **_**Leo chuckled quietly, Zippy never could understand the concept of soon, everything had to be instantaneous. **

"**Leora?" Leo looked up and noticed for the first time a slightly plump woman standing in front of an armchair with her hand outstretched. "My name is Kathy," **

"**What is happening, why are we here?" Leo asked, ignoring her hand, Katherine McLeod let her arm drop to her side and smiled reassuringly.**

"**Well, there are some concerns about your situation so we're just going to have a little chat about . . ."**

"**Concerns? What concerns? Our situation is fine!"**

"**Well then if that's the case . . ."**

"**That is the case! So can we go home now?"**

"**No, you need to answer a few questions first I'm afraid."**

"**Look, I am not answering any of your questions until you answer mine!" **

"**Ok," Mrs McLeod sighed and sank into the chair, "I'll tell you exactly what I know, I need to right a report up either recommending that Ziva David be granted temporary custody of you and your sister for the time being which hopefully should be accepted by the judge assigned your case in Israel."**

"**Well we want to stay with Ziva . . . "**

"**Stay with Zizi!" Zippy exclaimed suddenly,**

"**See! It is better for us here." Leo stared at McLeod who had kept a calm smile plastered on her face throughout her rant.**

"**Well, the quicker we get through this then the quicker I can write up a report. Come and sit down, all you have to do is tell me a bit about yourself and your life here and I promise I'll do everything I can to get this sorted out quickly. I'll have that report on the judges desk by the time he gets into work tomorrow morning, but you have to help me ok?" Leo stood still for a moment, considering her words carefully. "Leo, trust me I am not interested in making your life miserable, I'm here for you and your sister." the sincerity in her voice finally convinced Leo so she stepped towards the sofa and sat down. **

"**What do you want to know?" Katherine smiled at her and pulled out a pen,**

"**Well let's start with you describing your life here ok? Just you average day."**

**The next morning Tony was gradually emerging from sleep when he realised that his bed was empty, he forced his eyes wide open to check the time. It was only five past six so he groaned and rolled back over onto his stomach, he assumed Ziva had gone out for a run which was probably for the best- she had a lot of pent up frustration that he definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of. He lay still for a few moments with his head buried deep inside the pillows thinking how strange it was to wake up naturally, without Zippy poking him awake and demanding breakfast. He thought back to the last time he saw her, she had been hysterical, screaming. Would she blame him? He hadn't stopped that woman from taking her, what if she hated him now? A tight knot formed in his stomach and he sighed at that depressing thought. He wallowed for a further few seconds before a loud crash finally drew him out of his thoughts, frowning he dragged himself out of bed to investigate. Shuffling through to the kitchen, his head still slightly fuzzy from sleep he caught sight of Ziva kneeling on the kitchen floor, surrounded by pots, pans, casserole dishes, bowls, roasting trays- basically the entire contents of his cupboards. He sighed and lent on the breakfast bar,**

"**Ziva, please tell me you are not cleaning out my kitchen at six in the morning on a Sunday." Ziva pulled her head from deep within his units with an annoyed expression on her face,**

"**Well I could not sleep, what else should I be doing?"**

"**I don't know, going out for a run?"**

"**What? I cannot go out what if someone phones about the girls?"**

"**Again. Six o clock. On a Sunday!" **

"**Not in Israel! It is the middle of the day there!" she replied indignantly, he just shrugged and rested his head on his hands and observed the mess on the floor.**

"**You're gonna put all this back right?"**

"**Of course!" she disappeared back inside the cupboard with her cloth, "What I do not understand Tony is why do you have all these utensils and yet you never cook!"**

"**Hey, I cook! Sometimes."**

"**Oh I see." she reappeared with an eyebrow raised, "You do cook, just not for me is that how it is?" she shook her head and dropped the cloth back into the basin, "After all the meals I have made you!"**

"**I would cook for you." he met her eyes and smiled, "I just didn't want to compete with the master." she returned his smile wordlessly before turning to pick up a towel to dry the shelves. "Hey, you know what would be a better use of your time right now?"**

"**What is that Tony?"**

"**Breakfast making! Yeah, I would like scrambled eggs with some toast I think." he sat up on a stool, grinning down at her indignant expression, "Oooh oooh and a fried tomato!" **

"**Tony, I am a little busy here!"**

"**Hey, you made me get out of bed at six! On a Sunday! The least you could do is make it worth my while. Oh and I'm adding a waffle to my order." Ziva narrowed her eyes,**

"**I did not make you get up!"**

"**Well you woke me up and you know very well that if I'm not asleep then I'm hungry!" he pleaded with her until she finally rolled her eyes and stood up, picking up one of the pans. Tony watched as she moved around the kitchen, pleased that at least for a moment he had taken her mind off the girls.**

**An hour and a half later Tony was washing up the breakfast plates while Ziva gave his units one final wipe when her phone started ringing. She flung her cloth down and pulled it out of her pocket, **

"**Hello? . . . Shalom Benjamin." Tony stared at her intently, holding his breath nervously as he studied her face for any signs of distress. But he needn't have worried as her face was soon split in two by a fantastic smile, spreading from ear to ear, "KEN!" she shouted and punched the air ecstatically as Tony's heart rose in relief. Ziva said a few more sentences before hanging up, "Yes, yes, yes!" she shouted leaping towards him and throwing her arms around his neck. "They said yes! The girls are staying here!" he laughed and wrapped her up in his own arms,**

"**See, I told you you're doing a great job!" he squeezed her tight,**

"**Yes, yes you did!" she slid back from him, leaving her arms resting on his shoulders she looked up at him. Her face was glowing with a beatific smile while her eyes shone brightly at his own, he had never seen her this happy or excited. He could probably count the number of times she had ever hugged him on one hand and yet she had just leapt across the room and grabbed him in a bear hug. She was practically Abby! "Thank you again Tony." **

"**I was just calling things as I saw them." he returned her grin, still holding her in his arms. She pulled him close again for another squeeze before jumping back and clapping her hands.**

"**Well come on then! Get dressed lets go lets go lets go!" she made a shooing motion at him but he didn't move,**

"**Where are we going?"**

"**What? What do you mean where are we going? To get the girls of course!" she frowned at him,**

"**Yeah but where from?" she raised a finger and opened her mouth to answer but then furrowed her brow and dropped her arm,**

"**Oh." she paused, her smile momentarily fading, "I will phone child services and ask!" she flipped open her phone but Tony grabbed her arm, **

"**We need to wait until they call us, they might not even know about the judgement yet and if you harass them it'll just annoy them." Ziva pursed her lips and frowned at him,**

"**But,"**

"**Look, it must have been a good report so we have nothing to worry about it won't be long till we get the call." he said calmly, knowing that haranguing the department would just slow things down. Ziva scowled at him for a moment before softening,**

"**Fine. But at least go and get dressed so we can leave as soon as they phone."**

**Two hours later and Ziva was practically bouncing off the walls as she paced back and for the through the apartment, pining round like the bullet she had fires in the freight container. Tony was just thinking that when the phone finally rang, Ziva pounced on it in a flash,**

"**Hello? . . . Yes . . . Great, we are on our way." she hung up and turned round to find Tony already on his feet and pulling on his jacket. He grinned at her and grabbed his car keys as she ran towards the door.**

**Tony let her drive and they arrived at the offices in a terrifyingly short time. They rushed up the steps and through doors to where Katherine McLeod was waiting to meet them. She looked exhausted following a late night rushing through their report, **

"**Good morning," she said as they approached,**

"**Where are they?" Ziva demanded, foregoing pleasantries,**

"**Upstairs, follow me." Katherine replied spinning around to lead the way. They followed her silently for a few minutes until they stopped at a door which McLeod pushed open.**

"_**Can't see them."**_** Zippy whined as Leo held her up to the window, **_**"Not there,"**_

"_**Well keep looking for their car Zippy, they're on their way."**_

"_**That's the wrong window girls."**_** the second Ziva spoke Leo spun round, taking Zippy with her,**

"**ZIZI!" Zippy squealed as Ziva rushed forwards and grabbed her from Leo and hugged her tightly before wrapping her other arm around the older girl, squeezing them both tightly.**

"_**Are you ok? I'm sorry you had to . . . "**_

"_**We're fine, don't worry." **_**Leo returned her hug just as fiercely before slipping away from her and walking towards Tony who was hovering just behind, "Hi," she said simply before pulling him into a hug too, he grinned happily and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He wasn't sure what to say so he contented himself with just hugging her. He looked at Zippy who had her face buried against Ziva's neck, his niggling fear returning but after a few seconds Zippy pulled her face out,**

"**Pickle, Pickle, Pickle!" she reached her arms out to him, Leora stepped back and Ziva passed the little girl over. Tony took her into his arms and she clung onto him tightly, wrapping arms and legs around him. He felt his fear fade away as her little fingers buried their way into his hair, tugging on it gently. She straightened up and looked at him in the eye, **

"**Miss Pickle." **

"**I missed you too Zippy," he replied and kissed her cheek, she giggled and wiped the damp spot off.**

"**Uck!" **

"**Oh charming!" he smiled as Leo and Ziva laughed. **

"**Well, I just have a couple of things here for you to sign and then I'll show you out ok?"**

"**Yes ok," Ziva said as she moved towards the woman and picked up a pen. Soon they were all heading back down the corridor, Tony carrying Zippy and Ziva walking with an arm slung across Leo's shoulder. When the reached the doors Katherine McLeod stopped,**

"**Good bye then,."**

"**Yes, good bye," Ziva paused briefly before continuing towards the door but Leo slid out from her arm and turned to the social worker, **

"**Thank you," she held out her hand, Katherine was taken aback, unused to being thanked for her work but after a second she smiled widely and held out her own, shaking Leo's hand warmly.**

"**You're very welcome Leo, good luck I hope everything works out the way you want it to." Leo nodded and turned away, following Tony and Ziva to the car.**

**As soon as they got home they all flopped onto the sofa, resting their feet on the coffee table. Zippy curled up into a ball on Ziva's knee, snuggling up close while Ziva stroked her hair.**

"_**Are you tired honey?"**_

"**Well she made me stay up all night playing that princes memory game, it was in our room." Leo complained, "She kept wanting to find Jasmine because she has dark hair like ours!" Ziva smiled and continued caressing the little girl's hair as her eyes slowly flickered shut. **

"**What about you? Are you alright?" she turned to Leo,**

"**Yes I am fine. I cannot believe I missed my camping trip though, after all the money my stuff cost." Tony whimpered in mock anguish,**

"**Don't remind me! Oh god the tent!"**

"**Well . . . It did not look very sturdy anyway."**

"**What? That's even worse! I knew I should have gone with you, got you a proper tent!"**

"**With your extensive camping experience?" Ziva asked sarcastically,**

"**Everyone knows camping is a man's thing, it's man stuff. I can choose a tent thank you Zee-vah!" he retorted childishly, before addressing Leo again,**

"**You know I could drive you back up for the rest you only missed one day." he offered but she shrugged and lent back against his arm which was resting against the top of the sofa.**

"**No thank you, I think that I would rather stay at home tonight." **

"**Ah good choice, you're in or a treat. I'm cooking tonight!" he announced, Ziva raised her eyebrows incredulously, and opened her mouth but Leo jumped in first,**

"**What? ****you're**** going to cook?"**

"**Why are you so surprised by that?" he frowned at her, "I can cook you know . . . I have all the utensils!" he insisted, causing Ziva to snort with laughter****.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hi, this bit is a little random and I found it really hard to write practically all the characters in one section! I really needed a light chapter (which is actually going to be two chapts now) inbetween the last couple of chapters and what's coming up in the next few! it sort of expanded as I wrote it and was only meant to be short so it might feel a little stretched out! Anyway let me know what you think and thank you sooooooooo much for all the reviews they're fantastic!!**

* * *

Tony sighed and pushed his clean plate to the side,

"Well girls, I think we can all agree that that was DELICIOUS," he grinned around the table and licked his lips in satisfaction

"It was very good," Leora said causing his smile to widen, "_Much_ better than I expected."

"Hey!" his smile disappeared, frowning at her in annoyance.

"It was lovely Tony, really." Ziva cut in to prevent his inevitable whining,

"Oooh, lovely huh?"

"Mmmmm"

"Better than yours?" Ziva snorted into her wine,

"Well, I would not say that,"

"Well that's alright Ziva, I know it's har for you to admit that I cook better than you. My amaaaazing arrabiata just knocked your cheffing crown right off your pretty head!"

"Ha! You make one meal and you think you are the kitchen genius!"

"Hey I have cooked plenty of meals, besides I don't need practice- I'm Italian, it's in my blood!" he smirked at her across the table.

"I said that your food was good, just not that good."

"Oh really," he leant forward and stared at her intensely holding her gaze for several seconds before suddenly switching his eyes to Leora, "You're our impartial judge Leo, who cooks better?" she swallowed flicked her eyes between him and Ziva.

"Well . . . This was delicious" Ziva raised an eyebrow at her causing the girl to swallow nervously, "But Ziva, your food is always amazing." her voice faded away towards the end of her statement and before picking up her glass and took a long slurp out of it.

"That's not an answer!"

"Tony! Leave the girl alone, she said your pasta was delicious. Which was very generous." she flashed a smirk of her own at him before standing up to start clear the table.

"Fine, you know what we'll do to settle this . . ."

"Settle what Tony? There is nothing to settle we both cook well where is the problem?"

"Would you let me finish! We need to have a cook off!"

"A _what_?" she sighed,

"Uh, I cook, you cook then we get a group of people to choose the winner!"

"Why would we do that?"

"For fun Ziva! Fun!" she turned to face him,

"It seems like a bit of a waste of time Tony,"

"Why, cause you know you'll lose?" she narrowed her eyes at him,

"Fine, we will have a cook off! I was just trying to spare your feelings, you don't deal well with LOOSING." she emphasised the last word to rile him up.

"Ha oh really?"

"Yes, really."

"oh reeeeeaaaaaally?"

"Yes."

"Ha I don't think so, I think you're going down David!" Tony stared up at her but she just chuckled and walked towards the kitchen.

"We shall see Tony."

"Yeah we will! How about Friday?

"Fine by me" he settled back into his chair and smiled at Leo, "It's alright she's gone you can admit that I'm better now." the girl just stared at him for a few seconds,

"You are ridiculous. Both of you." she replied simply while a smile played across her lips.

Early on Friday evening they were busy getting ready for their guests' arrival. They had set up a couple of cold dishes on the table while the rest of their buffet was cooking. Tony was busy stirring a pot of sauce

"Are you almost ready Tony? They will be here soon."

"Yep smells good doesn't it?"

"Well you I cannot tell over the delicious smell coming from my pan."

"Sure, we'll just wait and see, let them be the judge of that." he was just about to make a snaky reply when the door buzzer went. Ziva placed her glass down before walking over to let them up and Tony turned down the hob before following her across the room.

"Last chance Ziva, we've not told them why they're coming round, just forfeit and then we can all have a nice, relaxed evening enjoying my exquisite gourmet creations and your . . . food."

"Ha, you are just trying to avoid loosing to me Tony!" she laughed and pulled the door open just as Abby raised her hand to knock. Her hand was hovering in the air but she immediately squealed and threw her arms around Ziva.

"This is so exciting!" she screeched and squeezed hard.

"It is?"

"Yes! It's your first dinner party!"

"No it is not, I have had many dinner parties before." A confused Ziva replied,

"No." Abby stepped away but kept her hands on her shoulders, "It's your's and Tony's first dinner party!" she grinned widely and then caught Tony's eye, "Tony!" she squealed again, launching herself at him instead, "I bet you're excited!"

"Uhm, yeah Abs, very." he grunted after having all the wind knocked out of his stomach by her exuberant hug. Ziva smiled and shook her head, turning to greet McGee who was still standing in the hallway.

"McGee, come in." she stepped back to allow him space to enter.

"Hey, I brought some wine, didn't know which colour would be better so I took both." she took the bottles from him,

"Ah trying to get me drunk McGee?"

"What? No, no I just took a selection!" Ziva laughed at how flustered he had become,

"I am joking," she leant forward and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you." She turned away and took the bottles through to the kitchen leaving the three of them standing by the door.

"Well, shall we?" Tony wrapped an arm around Abby's shoulder and led her across to the living room while McGee followed behind them. Just as they reached it Leora appeared in front of them, "Ah, Abs, McGee, this is Leo." he dragged her gently forwards,

"Hello," she smiled,

"Leo! Hi! Wow you look just like I imagined!" Abby grinned widely, "Ziva and Tony speak about you all the time!"

"Awww I wouldn't worry about that Abby, she's not as bad as all that once you get to know her." Tony said seriously,

"Hey!" Leo elbowed him in the stomach, "What have you been saying about me!"

"Ow!" he slapped her arm away, "I just tell them what a ray of sunshine you are in my life," he replied sarcastically as he rubbed his stomach gently.

"Honestly, he only ever says nice things about you." said McGee, "But, what would say about him? He's annoying right? Bet he has a lot of annoying and weird habits? . . ."

"Wait a minute, I didn't invite you here to pump her for information! Anyway, nothing I do is as embarrassing as your hobbies . . . Elflord!" McGee kept his face completely straight and stared at Tony for a few seconds before moving his eyes bck to Leo,

"You know one annoying thing about Tony, he remembers every stupid nickname and then will keep bringing it up for _years_." he glowered while Tony grinned cheekily,

"Awww probie . . ."

"Tony, something is burning in here." Ziva called out,

"What? My sauce!" he ran round the breakfast bar to the hob, "AH! Would it have killed you to stir it?" Ziva shrugged,

"I thought that you knew what were you doing." she said sweetly before heading out of the kitchen, "I will take your coats," she held out her arms for Abby and McGee dropped their jackets onto them. "Thank you," she said and then disappeared into Tony's bedroom.

"Seriously, you can tell us anything, Tony'll never know it came from you." McGee whispered conspiratorially, Leo smiled and opened her mouth to answer when the door buzzer went again,

"Get the door Leo!" Tony shouted so she smiled at McGee and went over to answer it. This time it was Ducky and Gibbs waiting on the other side,

"Ah! You must be Leo, call me Ducky," Ducky peered around the giant bunch of flowers he was carrying and held out his free hand and shook hers warmly.

"Hello Ducky," she smiled at him before glancing at the other man, "Well then, you are Gibbs then, yes?"

"Yeah," His lips flicked up into the briefest of smiles.

"Gibbs! Ducky! Come in!" Abby shouted across to them, waving wildly.

"Coming! Here you are my dear, why don't you take these from me?" Ducky thrust the monstrous bouquet into Leo's arms before heading towards the others along with Gibbs, "My, it smells delicious in here! Do we know what's on the menu tonight or does it remain a mystery?"

"They still haven't told us Ducky, well actually we forgot to ask but it smells good right? Let's guess! I'm smelling . . . Actually I'm smelling a bit of smokeyness_, I think it's something Tony's making." _she whispered just as Tony came out of the kitchen.

"Yeah well everything's under control no need to go spreading rumours Abs!" he hissed before turning to greet Ducky and Gibbs, "You made it boss!"

"Yeah,"

"Well y'know, it's just that you don't usually accept invitations or y'know, leave your basement outside work hours." Gibbs raised his eyebrows at him causing Tony to gulp, "Not that there's anything wrong with that . . ."

"Well I had to come DiNozzo, to see what kind of a job you're doin over here."

"Job what kind of job? With the girls? We're doing just fine . . . Right Leo?" he glanced over his shoulder nervously, hoping she'd back him up under Gibbs' icy stare, "Leo?" he asked again but she had disappeared with the flowers. Gibbs suddenly held up a six pack of beer,

"Relax Tony, I just came to eat." Tony sighed in relief and reached out for the beers,

"Thanks Boss, you want one of these now?" Gibbs nodded and went over to sit on the couch, Ducky smiled at Tony,

"I wonder how long it will take before you become used to Jethro's rather unique sense of humour?"

"He has a sense of humour?" Tony whispered back, causing Ducky to chuckle as he went over to join Gibbs. Moments after he sat down Ziva returned followed closely by Zippy,

"Gibbs, Ducky, good evening!" she turned and placed her hand gently behind Zippy's head, encouraging her to step forwards, "This is Zippy," the little girl stood close to her, curling one hand behind Ziva's knee as she shyly looked round all the new faces. "_Say hello," _Zippy raised her other hand and waved,

"Hello,"

"Hi! Awww she's sooooo adorable!" Abby waved back excitedly while everyone else also greeted her

warmly. She smiled widely but stayed where she was, clutching Ziva's leg

"Well then, what would everyone like to drink?" she asked to draw attention away from Zipporah and give her a chance to get used to all their new visitors.

"Well I think I shall start the night with a nice glass of red, if that's ok?"

"Of course Ducky," she smiled at the Doctor, "Any preferences? I could tell you what bottles we have?"

"Oh no, no it's fine dear, I am quite sure that you both have excellent tastes."

"I'll have the same please Ziva." Abby butted leaving only McGee,

"Could I have some white?"

"Of course," she turned to leave,

"But, could you maybe put some lemonade in with it?" he added quickly. Tony, who was in the middle of handing Gibbs a beer, stopped and spun slowly round.

"Wait a minute, did I just hear you ask for a white wine spritzer? Well actually, not even a real white . . ."

"Well, I have to drive Tony, I'm just trying . . ."

"Hey, I'm not here to judge but you know, if you've got something to tell us then . . ." he raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

"You're such a bigot Tony, I order a spritzer so then I must be gay is that right? Hilarious!"

"Woah McCloseted it's ok, you're among friends. This is a _safe _place."

"Oh Tony stop teasing him," Ziva frowned at him, "Of course you can have a spritzer McGee." she smiled before leaving to fetch the drinks while Tony chuckled and finally gave Gibbs his drink.

"So what you cooking DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he took his bottle,

"Well, it's gonna be a little different, it's kind of a competition. Ziva and I have both made several dishes but we're not going to tell you who made what and then later you're going to vote for the best ones and then we'll count you're votes and declare one of us the winner and the better cook!"

"You're having a cook off!" Abby squealed,

"This was you're idea wasn't it?" McGee sighed and tilted his head at Tony.

"Of course it was." Ziva said as she walked over with his drink, "Here's your spritzer," Tony snorted behind her,

"Well thank you Ziva, you can count on my vote,"

"Didn't you listen to the rules? You won't know which one's Ziva made."

"Oh I'll be able to tell."

"Oh yeah, how?"

"Cause Ziva's cooking's good." McGee smirked at him, Tony narrowed his eyes and screwed up his face.

"Cause Ziva's cooking's good." imitated him in a mocking high pitched tone before frowning and crossing his arms,

"Well I think it's a wonderful idea! An excellent way to make a pleasant evening even more interesting!" Ducky grinned excitedly.

"Thanks Ducky, I think so too but others weren't so enthusiastic," he glanced pointedly at Ziva, "But she couldn't accept that I'm a better cook! Anyway, dinner will be served in about half an hour and then we'll know who's the best! (_me)_"


	27. Chapter 27

Tony sighed theatrically as he stirred his pot,

"I can't believe you sabotaged me Zi! This is ruined, burnt to a crisp!" Ziva picked up the oven gloves used flicked him with them,

"I did not sabotage you Tony, I just happened to be in the kitchen at the time it started burning it was just a . . . . co-winkaquink!" she grinned, pleased with herself for remembering the word but Tony dropped the spoon and turned to face her,

"HOW do you remember exactly the wrong word and yet find it impossible to learn the right one? It's koinkidink, ko-in-ki-dink." she frowned at him and folded her arms, "And anyway, it wasn't a coincidence, you did this, I know it!" Ziva rolled her eyes and pushed him gently back out of the way so she could open the oven to check on its contents,

"Tony, it looks fine to me I am sure that it will taste just right," she shut the oven and straightened up. Abby had stood up to help herself to more wine but had stopped to watch the two of them bickering in the kitchen. She was leaning on the table, grinning happily as she watched them when Gibbs appeared behind her on his way back from the bathroom. She jumped up when she felt his presence,

"Gibbs! Just getting some more wine, smells great huh? Can't wait to eat I'm starving!" she blurted out nervously, trying to distract him without knowing quite why she didn't want him seeing Tony and Ziva. Gibbs stopped and stood wordlessly beside her, staring into the kitchen.

"Oh you think it'll taste fine huh? Well try some then," Tony pulled out a spoonful and held it out to her, she blew on it carefully for a minute before gently wrapping her lips around it and slowly sucking off some of his sauce. She kept their eyes locked as she did so, suddenly rendering Tony speechless.

"Mmmmmm," she licked her lips delicately, "So it tastes a little . . . Smokey that is good, like barbeque. You love barbeque food!" she smiled at him and he finally regained the power of speech,

"Smokey! That's not a good thing, its not meant to be Penne con pomodoro e salsiccia piccante alla Cowboy Colin's!" He stared at her indignantly but she just snorted with laughter. "See! I knew you did this on purpose!" He turned back to the pan grumbling to himself ,

"I did not, if I were going to sabotage you I would have come up with something far more . . . Creative." she whispered suggestively as she started to head back to the living room but before she could he reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her up against him so that he could stare right into her eyes.

"What did you do? The whole pepper pot? Salt? . . . . Chilli?" he hissed at her but she just smiled sweetly and leant towards him until their faces were just centimetres apart;

"I have done nothing, I do not need to cheat to win."

"Chi mangia bene, mangia Italiano Ziva,"

"Well, we shall see." she slid out of his grip and headed back to the living room, smiling as she past Gibbs and Abby, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine!" Abby replied instantly, glancing at Gibbs; whose face had revealed none of his thoughts throughout Tony and Ziva's interactions. Abby stepped forwards and linked her arm through Ziva's,

"Come and see Zippy, I gave her pigtails she looks sooooo cute! I think you should do her hair this way all the time."

"Well you would!" Ziva laughed while Gibbs remained still for another minute, flicking his eyes between her and Tony before rejoining the party.

"Dinner is served!" Tony announced, grinning widely around the room, "Help yourself to whatever you want, buon appetitio if you're eating mine and I hope it's disgusting if it's Ziva's!"

"Tony! that's not very sporting, I'm deducting a point from you right now! You're starting at minus one and that's not a good place to start from!" Abby frowned at him and made a mark on a piece of paper.

"Oh come on! I was joking!" Abby just shrugged and looked at him innocently,

"It's too late, I already marked you down."

"Abs, I think you're taking this too seriously." he grumbled.

"Tony, this was your idea, you wanted to make it a competition but we should at least try and be nice! I think Abby has exactly the right attitude for judging this." Ziva stood up to get herself some food while Abby grinned triumphantly at Tony,

"You know Abby, I think that's the kind of attitude that deserves extra points." McGee sidled up beside her,

"Ahh! You're right Timmy, niceness points for Ziva," she bent down to scribble on her score sheet while McGee smirked smugly,

"Oh come on!" Tony complained and turned away towards the table.

A short while later everyone had settled down with their plates of food, each making their own yummy noises as they ate. However, one person was not altogether thrilled with their meal. Zippy stood up and carried her bowl carefully over to Tony and held it out to him, he looked at her questioningly,

"Yes ma'dam?"

"Nions! no thank you." she screwed up her face and pointed at the offending onions sticking out of the sauce. Tony sighed and took the bowl from her.

"Ok no onions, your wish is my command!" he smiled at the little girl and began picking them out.

"Why not just give her something else?" Ziva called over to him, "Rather than picking out every bit of onion?"

"Nah she wanted the sausage," Ziva rolled her eyes and took a sip of wine.

"You know, she will never learn to eat onions if you always pick them out for her."

"It's only one vegetable Zi its not like she refuses to eat anything but chips."

"I am just saying that onions are in everything, it is the most inconvenient thing for her not to like, maybe we should just blend onions in from now on. She eats tomatoes fine when they're pureed into a sauce but she refuses to eat them whole."

"Oooooh sneaky, I like it!" Tony smiled up at her, "Cause this is actually a huge pain in the . . ." Ziva frowned at him and he glanced down at Zippy who was leaning on his knee, carefully supervising his onion picking, " . . . bottom." he finished.

"She doesn't like tomatoes? That's one of the most common dislikes you know, in fact they weren't consumed by Americans at all until the end of the eighteenth century. You see they were believed to be poisonous and doctors warned against consuming them as it was feared the skin would become attached to the stomach lining and cause cancer." Ducky paused to wipe his lip daintily and Ziva, assuming he was finished, was about to speak when he continued, "In fact, it's said that the myth wasn't entirely disproved until Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson of Salem, New Jersey stood in the street and bravely consumed an entire basketful of them without suffering any ill effects. It caused quite a spectacle. everyone was sure he was committing public suicide, someone even played a dirge but luckily this story had a happy ending. Just think if he hadn't done that perhaps we would regard the nutritious tomato with fear." he sighed and sat back in the sofa,

"Well that sure would have made our life a lot easier, we had roast tomatoes with dinner the other day, thought it would be ok since they don't taste anything like raw ones but whoa Zippy was not happy!" Tony joked, causing Ziva and Leo to chuckle at the memory of the little girl's horrified face when she had unwittingly bit into a tomato. He finally pulled out what had to be about the twenty fifth slice of onion and held out the bowl to Zippy, she glanced down at it and then fixed her hopeful eyes on his,

"Cheese too?" he stared back at her for a few seconds before sighing and standing up.

"Ok, cheese too."

"thank ooo" she said as she scrambled up onto the space he'd left on the sofa, shuffling along until she was right next to Gibbs who smiled down at her.

"Oh that's nice! I get up to get you some cheese and you steal my seat!" he grumbled as he headed towards the kitchen, passing Ziva and Leo who were laughing still. They held up their pinkies at him, winding them around slowly, to signify him being wrapped around her little finger, as he went past.

A while later the votes had been cast and Leo was counting them up in the kitchen,

"Oooooh, this is exciting! I can hardly stand the tenseness!" Abby whispered excitedly,

"Why are you whispering?" McGee hissed at her, she frowned and turned to face him,

"Cause it's tense McGee it felt like a whispering moment!"

"Right," McGee replied uncertainly, leaning back into his chair.

"You know, it doesn't matter who wins. If you want to keep cooking after this as practice, I won't stop you Ziva." Tony was sitting on the arm of her seat so she flung out her arm to smack him in the stomach, "Oww!" he squealed, clutching his tummy,

"I can assure you that if I lose tonight Tony I will definitely not be cooking for you again, you can have sole responsibility for it!" she smiled at him, pulling her arm back to continue stroking Zippy's hair while the little girl lolled on her lap, her eyes slowly closing.

"Well are you ready?" Leo came back through and stood next to Tony and Ziva's chair,

"Oh I'm ready," Tony grinned confidently, "Are you?" he asked Ziva,

"Definitely," everyone stared at Leo, waiting for her to announce the winner,

"Well it was very close, three votes to two so really the loser does not need to feel ashamed because two out of five votes is really quite good."

"Oh stop trying to spare her feelings and tell everyone I won!" Tony continued to smile cheekily,

"Well Tony I would love to . . ."

"Ha! I knew it!"

" . . . but you did not win."

"What!"

"I am sorry Tony but Ziva's chreime received the most votes." Leo shrugged and turned to Ziva, "Well done!_ I knew you would win."_ she added sneakily,

"Thank you . . ."

"Was the chreime that fish thing? It was sooooo good, I voted for that!" Abby clapped and then caught Tony frowning at her, "What? It was yummy! Your cooking was really good too though Tony,, if you had been nicer about this then maybe you would have got my vote." she wagged her finger at him and he cracked a smile,

"Oh well, guess this means I don't have to do all the cooking then!" he stood up and disappeared into the bedroom.

"Oh dear I hope he hasn't taken losing to heart, I voted for him!" Ducky peered after him before catching sight of Ziva, "Sorry dear but I found your cooking just a bit too spicy for me, the Mediterranean cuisine really suits me better."

"Do not worry Ducky," Ziva brushed aside his apology before whispering, "I still won,"

"No need to rub it in!" Tony reappeared behind her carrying a bottle of champagne,

"I thought you were hiding."

"I wasn't hiding, I was getting this." he retorted and started unwinding the wire top as he walked towards the kitchen sink, "Leo come and get the glasses out please." he called over his shoulder and popped open the cork. He poured out a couple of glasses and left Leo to do the rest, "Congratulations to the winner." he smiled and handed Ziva the first glass,

"Thank you," she returned his smile and took a little sip, "It is very good."

"of course it is, I chose it!" he replied cockily. Ziva shook her head and reached out to place her glass on the coffee table, disturbing Zippy who was dozing on her knee.

"_Come on, you need to get ready for bed." _she coaxed gently, pushing the little girl into a sitting position.

"_no, not yet, five minutes."_ Zippy moaned sleepily.

"Here I'll take her, you stay and enjoy your moment." he reached out for Zippy's hands and helped her slide onto the floor. "Say night night to everyone."

"No, not sleepy. Stay up." she moaned softly, staring up at him with hopeful but sleepy eyes.

"It's bedtime Zippy, everyone is sleepy look," he pretended to yawn loudly, "See, it's bedtime so night night everyone," he turned and waved at his guests and Zippy relented and copied him.

"Night night." she said sleepily, Abby waved back and they all said goodnight as Tony led her through to her bedroom.

"Awww, they're so cute together." Abby sighed when they had left the room.

"Yes she loves him and he is wrapped right around her little finger, he can deny her nothing!" Ziva sighed and retrieved her wine while Gibbs stared thoughtfully at her.

It was much, much later when McGee finally stood up,

"Abby, I think it's time for us to go."

"Timmy! Timmy noooo, not yet. I'll just finish this last drink." Abby held up her glass which was still half full.

"You said that two drinks ago." he folded his arms and glowered at her,

"But, this time I mean it McGee pinkie promise!" she held up her pinkie and giggled before turning back to Ziva who was just finishing the last drop of her own drink.

"We will just finish the bottle, there is only a little drop." she shakily refilled her own glass before turning to Abby's. She poured all the wine into it, letting it fill precariously close to the top.

"ok, ok, we'll finish this last last drink THEN we'll go McGee." Abby laughed and took a swig while McGee sank back into his seat.

"Way to lay down the law McPushover." Tony laughed and ate a spoonful of leftovers,

"Well it's not like you're in control of this situation!" he brandished his arms at the two women who had worked their way through a couple of wine bottles and were now sitting on the floor giggling away at nothing.

"Situation? Jeeeez McGee they've had a couple of drinks, they're not robbing a bank! Besides I'm at home, I can go to bed anytime I want, like maybe now." he stood up as though he were carrying out his threat,

"No Tony! Don't leave me with them!"

"And what would be so obsectiona . . . Objectab . . . Objectional. . . wrong with that McGee?" Ziva suddenly butted into their conversation,

"What? Oh nothing, I just meant that . . ."

"I think it's because we're drunk." Abby hissed at her,

"We are not drunk!"

"I think we might be. . ." Abby held her held her thumb and forefinger slightly apart in front of Ziva's face, "Just a teensy weensy bit." she whispered before collapsing into another fit of giggles. Tony shook his head and picked up her glass, gulping its contents down.

"Right there you go, your drinks finished."

"Tony! I was drinking that," Abby tried to point at him in accusingly but her arm just wobbled around.

"Abby, Abby," Ziva grabbed her arm, "Maybe he is right, I think that you are drunk." she tried to sound serious despite the slurring in her speech.

"Yeah, I didn't really want that wine anyway," she leant close to Ziva's ear, " I feel a bit sick," she said conspiratorially but spoke loudly enough for McGee to hear.

"Excellent, all over my new car(!)" he moaned while Tony helped Abby to her feet,

"Well you offered to drive!" Abby linked her arm through McGee's and leant heavily on him.

"Okey Dokey McGoogles lets go?"

"McGoogles?"

"What? It's cute!" she reached out to pinch his cheek but missed and let her arm fall back to her side, McGee turned to Tony,

"You see this is why I had to stick to a couple of spritzers, he groaned and started to lead Abby out."

"Byyeeee!" Abby called out cheerily, "Thanks it was yummy!"

"Night!" Ziva shouted from the floor while Tony shut the door behind them.

"Well, I think that went well," he strolled towards her, "And you thought it was a stupid idea."

"I never said that."

"Yes you did!"

"Did I?" she snorted, "Maybe I did, I do not know what I said or what I was saying . . ." she frowned, "What are we talking about?" Tony laughed and shook his head,

"Whoa Ziva, you're sloshed!"

"I am not!" she replied indignantly,

"oh, you are." he grinned and bent down to take her hands, "Come on." he pulled her to her feet and she stumbled forwards, banging against his chest. He let go of her hands and grabbed her waist to steady her.

"Whoops," she laughed and placed her own hands on his hips, swaying gently as she looked into his eyes, "Tony, are you taking me to bed?" she asked softly, a small smile playing across her lips,

"Well, I think it's about time." he started walking backwards, pulling her with him.

"Hmmmm, yes, I have had rather a lot to drink. It is time for bed."

"Rather a lot? I've seen 300lb men struggle to drink as much as you have tonight!"

"Well, I can carry my liquor." she shrugged as they entered the bedroom.

"You can hold liquor," he let go of her and she staggered towards the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later Tony slid into bed next to her, after a few seconds silence she rover and flung an arm across his chest, letting it land heavily against him.

"OW" he groaned but she ignored him.

"Are you grumpy because I won?"

"No, you're stew thing was amazing, and I don't even like fish." she reached up and ran a finger down his cheek, letting it linger on his chin,

"Are you sure?" she pressed down gently, turning his face towards hers,

"I'm sure."

"Good, because I think you are just as good as me. We are the same." she began slowly stroking the hair above his ear. "I do not want you to be upset."

"I'm not, honestly,"

"Well, I think McGee knew which dishes were mine, we have very different styles. He probably would have voted for you if you had been nice to him."

"It was just a bit of fun Ziva, I wanted you to have a nice night."

"I did, it was a lot of fun. And I have not relaxed like that in . . . a while."

"Well that's all I wanted then." she smiled at him before snuggling her face deep into the pillow, leaving her thumb gently running through his hair. He sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying her gentle caress. He was happy that tonight had turned out so well, it had been a lot of fun and Ziva deserved a good night with her friends as a relief from all the stress she was under. Her thumb stilled and her hand slid down, dangling over his shoulder, he turned to face her and just as he did so the first little snore escaped her lips.


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey, ok this turned out longer than it was meant to be! Anyway thanks for all the reviews i really appreciate them and i promise, promise, promise, there'll be some proper tiva!**

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Tony's eyes flickered open and he yawned sleepily. He glanced across at Ziva who was lying face down, her dark curls completely concealing her face but was doing nothing to muffle her snores. He could feel the vibrations travelling through his pillow, he watched her until she suddenly snorted loudly and fell silent. Tony rolled onto his own stomach and let his eyes slide shut again. The tranquil peace lasted only s few minutes until he heard little feet slapping across the hallway and his door being flung open.

"Zizi? Pickle?" he groaned quietly, hoping she would just slip into bed gently, or better yet, go and hassle Leo. However, there was a brief moment of silence before Zippy scampered towards the be and launched herself up, grabbing onto the bed covers to help her scramble up before bouncing along the mattress until she flung herself down between them. "Pickle, Pickle, you awake!"

"No I'm not." he moaned.

"Uh-huh,"

"No, not yet, I'm still sleeping." Zippy sighed and turned onto her side.

"Zizi," she asked tentatively, "Ziziiiiiii," she reached out and pushed the mass of dark hair out of the way and leant forward until her face was pressed against Ziva's ear. _"Wake up,, wake up,"_ Ziva groaned and turned away, burying her face into her pillow. "We go swimming today?" Zippy asked hopefully and wasn't satisfied when the only answer was a grunt so she started prodding Ziva's head, "Zizi, Zizi, Zizi,"

"_Not today, maybe tomorrow." _Zippy screwed her face up and pulled her head back.

"Zizi smells" she announced and Tony laughed and leant forward to sniff her,

"Ah, nothing like wine breath first thing in the morning." he chuckled at her so she reached out and placed her palm across his face, pushing him roughly away. "Hey!"

"Please leave me to die quietly,"

"Feeling rough this morning Zeee-vah?"

"I think my head is about to explode, leave me alone!"

"Hey, I didn't make you drink your body weight in wine!"

"Shut up." she snapped and pulled the covers over her head. Tony turned to Zippy and raised his eyebrows,

"Zizi's grumpy, grumpy, grumpy today!"

"Yep," she threw herself across Ziva's back. "Zizi, pease, swimming today?" she wheedled,

"Oh god," Tony could just make out Ziva's pitiful voice and sighed, rolled out of bed and pulled Zippy of the bed,

"Come on you, lets go get breakfast I'm STARVING!"

"But Zizi . . ."

"No let's go, I'm too hungry- I might have to eat you." he bent down towards her and started making munching sounds as he carried her out of the room.

An hour later Tony strolled back into the bedroom carrying a cup of strong coffee which he placed on Ziva's bedside table. He poked the mound of bed sheets,

"Hey wino, how you feeling?" She rolled onto her back and wriggled out from under the duvet,

"I cannot believe I feel this bad, I have never felt this bad in my life."

"You're getting old Zi, can't drink like you used to! He said cheerfully provoking her into half heartedly fling a pillow at him. It barely reached him, bumping against his knees before sliding to the floor. "Well to be fair, you did mix red wine, vodka, a little tequila you and Abby had quite a party."

"Stop, I do not need reminding!" she struggled to sit up and picked up the coffee, sniffing it before taking a small sip. She winced and put it back onto the table. "Ooof, I am not ready for coffee."

"I could fix you a DiNozzo Defibrillator, trust me it'll make you feel good as new."

"Ha! I doubt that very much."

"Suit yourself." He shrugged and headed over to his wardrobe and pulled out a t-shirt and jeans, "I said I'd take Zippy to the park but we're all going swimming tomorrow, I pinkie promised."

"Ahhh, thank you," she sank back into the mattress.

"Hey no problem, I'd rather go to the park than sort out the kitchen." he grinned as her took his clothes into the bathroom, "You'd better get moving." Ziva groaned and slid back under the covers.

Ziva had fallen back asleep just before Tony left and slept for another couple of hours. She woke up feeling slightly better and dragged herself out of bed before padding through to the kitchen. She groaned when she saw the chaos strewn around the kitchen and made herself a cup of jasmine tea. Slipping onto a stool she slowly sipped her tea contemplating where to start with the clear up when Leora appeared , she didn't notice Ziva sitting in the kitchen as she was busily shoving something in her bag.

"_Morning,"_ Leo jumped and looked at her,

"_Ziva, I thought you were still in bed."_

"_Well, I'm not."_ Ziva raised an eyebrow at her, _"Where are you going?" _

"_I'm going over to Angie's, we might go shopping and then to the cinema in the evening."_

"_You were going to just go without telling me?" _Leo froze and stared at her.

"_No, no of course not."_

"_Are you ok?" _Ziva narrowed her eyes at her questioningly.

"_Yeah, yeah everything's fine." _smiled widely,

"_What time are you going?"_

"_Oh, now."_ she replied but remained standing still, she glanced down at her feet before flicking her eyes back up, "_Ziva, if I asked you a question . . ." _She hesitated slightly, "_Wait, never mind."_ She said quickly and turned abruptly to go.

"_Leo, wait !"_ Leo paused and turned around, _"What is it?" _she asked softly but Leo just shrugged and smiled again.

"_Oh it's nothing, honest."_ she slung her bag over her shoulder strode towards the door, _"See you later ok?"_

"_Well ok then, if you're sure, bye." _Leo left and Ziva sat staring at the door for a few moments while she tried to work out what was going on in Leo's head.

"Mmmmmm, well that tasted just as good today." Tony licked his lips after finishing his dinner made up of leftovers from the night before.

"Well we are both excellent cooks." Ziva agreed and picked up the plates. "But I am better," she grinned at him and dropped the plates into the sink. "Uh, I have washed enough dishes today, I think it is your turn." she spun around and leant on the counter,

"Oh come on! There's only three!" he complained just as the door swung open and Leora walked in.

"Hello, I thought that you were going to see a film this evening?"

"Oh, I changed my mind." she replied as she crossed the room.

"You hungry?" Tony asked.

"No." she replied abruptly, he frowned at her, "What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." she was walking slowly and slightly slumped over.

"So did you buy anything today?" Ziva asked conversationally,

"No." Ziva folded her arms and stood up straight.

"Stop." Leo froze, "Lift up your shirt." Ziva demanded.

"What? Why?" Leo spun round slowly,

"Because I asked you too, lift it up please."

"But . . ."

"Leora, I will not ask again." Leo bit her lip and grabbed the hem of her top, slowly pulling it up.

"What's that!" Tony exclaimed suddenly and leapt to his feet, "Did you pierce your belly button?"

"Yes." she replied quietly.

"How? Who did this to you?" he asked furiously,

"What do you mean?"

"He means where did you get this done? You have to be eighteen to get this done." Ziva asked tensely.

"Just a shop in town . . . I can't remember what it's called."

"What kind of shop pierces a fourteen year old girls!" Tony shouted, resting his hands on his hips.

"Well they didn't know how old I was, I used . . ." she stopped suddenly and looked guiltily down at her feet.

"What, what did you use?" Leo met Ziva's eyes,

"I took your drivers licence." she whispered.

"You did what?" Ziva exclaimed and stepped closer to her,

"Are you telling me that this guy believed you were a thirty two year old woman? Didn't ask for a birth certificate?" Tony butted in angrily.

"Well, he just glanced at it saw dark hair, dark skins, dark eyes."

"How could you be so stupid? You belly button-that's just a gateway for infection, right next to all your organs! If he's not sticking to the age restrictions what makes you think he obeys any of the other laws like sterilising?" he sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "And look at you? You're going to be attracting all the wrong kind of attention with that thing!" Leo turned her head away to avoid his gaze while Ziva stepped closer to her and examined the piercing more closely.

"It looks red and swollen,"

"Yeah I know . . . It really hurts." she whispered quietly,

"Well of course it hurts you put a hole in your stomach!" Tony pointed out, Ziva stood up,

"Tony, go to the chemist and get some anti-septic cream please. The kind with local anaesthetic and take Zippy with you." Tony remained still for a few seconds before sighing and towards the sofa where Zippy was quietly observing the commotion.

"Let's go sweet pea." he held out his hand and helped her jump off the sofa. "I'll be back in a minute," he called over his shoulder as he picked up Zippy's jacket and walked out of the door leaving Ziva and Leo alone in the kitchen.

"When did you get it done?"

"A few hours ago." Ziva nodded and went over to the sink to fill the kettle. She pulled a glass out of the cupboard along with the salt as she waited for it to boil. When it had she poured some into the glass and mixed in a teaspoon of salt,

"_Why did you do it?" _Ziva asked suddenly, taking Leo off guard. She stared at her startled,

"_I, I don't know, it just sort of happened."_

"_How could it have __**just**__ happened? You thought about it enough to steal my licence!"_ Ziva snapped angrily before sighing and rubbing her brow slowly. "_go and sit in the living room." _Leo opened her mouth to reply but thought better of it and headed towards the sofa. Five minutes later Ziva joined her carrying the glass, _"Stand up,"_ Leo did so, "_Lean forwards," _when Leo did she carefully pressed the glass against her stomach, creating a seal around her belly button. _"Ok, you can sit down and lean back carefully now."_

"Ah!" Leo winced as the water slopped across the piercing,

"_It'll help it heal."_ Ziva sighed and sat down on the coffee table in front of Leo, she was silent for a while before reaching out to place her hands on Leo's knees. She rubbed her thumbs in circles while she considered how to handle this. _"Talk to me, this is so . . . Not you Leo, why would you just suddenly do this?"_ Leo shrugged,

"_I . . .well all the other girls have been getting it done at that place and I didn't wanted to get it done and that was fine until Lauren stuck her nose in. She started saying I was a coward and stuff._"

"_So what if this one girl's teasing you that's no reason to butcher yourself." _

"_It wasn't just her, everyone was like oh just get it done, it doesn't hurt blah blah blah and then . . . Lauren said in front of everyone that she didn't know why I was so worried about get it done because no one would even care. You know, because mum died and then, I don't know. I guess I thought she was right and I just sort of snapped and thought what the hell, I'll just do it." _

"_You thought I wouldn't care?" _Ziva gasped, horrified and Leora shrugged again.

"_It's not that I thought you wouldn't care I didn't really think about it. She just made me so mad that I just went for it. I thought that you would be angrier though, I was more scared after I got it done than I was before." _

"_Oh, I'm mad. I'm furious that you lied to me, that you went behind my back and stole my licence. You're grounded for the next two weeks and no allowance for a month. You'll be in a lot of pain for a long time with that thing which will hopefully teach you a lesson."_ Ziva raised her eyebrows and squeezed Leo's legs tightly, "_And I will always care about what you do."_

"_Yeah I know, I'm sorry." _

"_Good,"_ Ziva leant forward, "_But trust me, you belong to __**me**__ now so if you ever deceive me or do anything like this ever again there will be serious consequences ok?" _Ziva hissed at her.

"_That's more like it," _Leo smiled at her_, "Can I take off the glass now?"_ Ziva nodded and Helped ease it off gently and handed her some tissues to dab it dry.

Quarter of an hour later Tony and Zippy returned with the cream. Zippy jumped up onto the sofa and began tearing the toy of the front of her comic while Tony joined Ziva in the kitchen.

"I got it." he waved the tube at her.

"Thank you," she turned around to face him. "I think you should maybe take it in to her." he nodded.

"How is she? I think I got a little angry earlier."

"Mmmmm, just a bit." he turned and walked towards the girls' room and knocked hesitantly.

"Come in."

"Hey," he popped his head through the door before entering. She was lying in the middle of the double bed with the duvet rolled up into a thick tube in one side and a few pillows lined up on the other. "Building a fort?"

"I did it in case I fell asleep so that it stops me rolling onto my stomach."

"Ah, I see." he stood uncomfortably by the door, "I brought in your cream." he stepped forwards to pass it to her.

"Thanks." she took it and rolled up her t-shirt to dab it on. Tony shuffled from foot to foot a couple of times,

"Listen Leo, I'm sorry about how I reacted earlier." he sank into a chair, "I was just really angry that someone did this to you and I was worried that it was hurting you and stuff I guess."

"Well . . . You are right, it hurts really badly." she whimpered, "And I do not really like it." she added quietly.

"Well, maybe the anti-septic cream will help, it should numb it down a bit." Leo nodded slowly and they fell into silence until Leo tentatively spoke again.

"I want it out," Tony leant forwards and leant his elbows on his knees.

"Well, tomorrow we'll take you to a proper reputable place and see if they can take it out properly. It needs to be done right since it's so new."

"Ok, thank you Tony."

"No problemo." he grinned and stood up to leave.

A few hours later Ziva was sitting and reading in bead while Zippy slept soundly next to her. Tony emerged from the bathroom and frowned at the little girl who was sprawled across the bed.

"For someone so small she takes up loads of bed space, where the hell am I meant to sleep?" Ziva glanced at Zippy and then at him,

"On the sofa?" she raised her eyebrow cheekily, he scoffed and carefully slipped in next to Zippy.

"So . . . What a day huh? I can't believe she did that, it's so . . . Un-Leo like."

"I know, she was just testing the boundaries of her new life." Ziva said matter of-factly.

"Dr Phil again?"

"No it is what my book says." she flashed the cover at him, it was in Hebrew so he just shrugged.

"Help me out? I'm learning using a phrase book here?"

"Well, it is a book about how orphaned teenagers cope with the change. They need to find a new anchor in life and become used to a new set of rules." she closed the book and continued, "It is normal for them to rebel or do things which seem out of character as they try to adapt to a whole new world without their parents. It is important not to be overly alarmed or overreact which may only provoke a more extreme reaction." she practically recited a section word for word.

"Ahhh, I was wondering why you were so relaxed about it."

"Well one of us had to be!"

"Who'd have thought you'd ever be he calm, cool and collected one!"

"Well maybe I am changing, maybe you are too." she smiled at him and opened her book again.


	29. Chapter 29

Tony took a deep breath and stepped out into the sun, it was still quite early in the morning so the rays weren't exactly roasting but the cool breeze was pretty refreshing. He sat down and started to blow up Zippy's ring while he waited for her and Ziva to appear. The pool was quiet, with only a few dedicated swimmers trying to get a few laps in before the masses of families descended for a weekend dip. Those families of course didn't live with Ziva and Zippy, a nice, relaxing lie in was not for them. He was just sealing the ring when the heard Zippy's excited chattering coming from the ladies' changing room. He looked up just as they emerged, Zippy already had on her wings while Ziva held her hand tightly. He tried to surreptitiously stare at Ziva, her swimming costume left nothing to the imagination, clinging to her like a second skin. He remembered when she had bought it, they had gone shopping a week after the fire to replenish her wardrobe, she had grabbed it from a pile, said "this will do", and that was that. No thought had gone into it at all and yet the deep emerald green complemented her olive skin flawlessly and it displayed her body perfectly. Tony sighed, her body was perfect, it was actually perfect and he had to sleep next to it every night. He deserved a medal.

"Pickle!" Zippy shouted and waved at him, her feet were slapping against the tiles as she hurried towards him.

"Hey, already to jump in?" he grinned at her as she finally arrived at his knee, she nodded and then raised her arms for him to slip on the ring. Tony dropped it over but it got stuck on her wings,

"Oh," she exclaimed indignantly and then started wiggling her arms and body, trying to make it slip down. Tony and Ziva laughed at her as she hopped about, "humph," she stopped and let her arms flop forwards, "Help me!" she whined forlornly, "stuck!"

"Come here honey," Tony reached out and pulled it back over her head, "Maybe stepping into it will be easier." he held it low and she carefully lifted one leg and then the other inside it before pulling it up to her waist and grinning triumphantly at them both. "All set Thorpedo?" Tony asked, she nodded and turned towards the pool.

"_Do you want to jump in?"_ Ziva asked and reached down to take hold of one of the little girl's hands, causing her to start waddling as her ring slid down on one side.

"_Yes!"_ Zippy nodded enthusiastically as the three of them made their way towards the shallow end. Ziva slipped into the pool and held up her hands for the little girl to jump into. Zippy crouched down and then sprang of the edge into Ziva's waiting arms.

"Wow! Well done! That was a huge, big jump!" Ziva congratulated her while Tony clapped loudly,

"Ok move over Zippy," he crouched down too, "Ready to catch me now Ziva?" Ziva laughed and retreated further into the pool, dragging Zippy with her.

"No! You are too big to be caught Tony." Tony pouted and straightened up.

"You could have at least pretended!"

"I am sorry Tony, you can jump in the deep end, Zippy will like the big splash!" Ziva chuckled at her own joke.

"Hey! There would be no big splash, just a tiny little ripple." he retorted and sat on the edge, ready to join them in the pool, "Oooooof," he placed a hand on his belly and frowned.

"See, I told you all that breakfast was not a good idea before swimming. You will get cramp."

"That's just an old wives' tale I'll be fine, besides I only had a little snack."

"It was not a little snack, it was a feast! Eggs, toast, tomatoes and bacon," she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the last one and Tony frowned at her.

"What? I didn't force you to eat it. Anyway it's not like you're so strict, how many Philly cheese steaks have you packed away? Very kosher!"

"Ooooooh grouchy, I just do not like the smell Tony. Everything will be smelly when we get back." she smiled and then turned her attention back to Zippy who was bobbing happily in front of her. "Can you catch me?"

"YES!" Zippy squealed as Ziva leapt back and began jogging through the water.

"I do not think you can!" she teased as Zippy began pumping her legs, wobbling after her. Ziva moved round the shallow end at a slow pace, just fast enough to remain out of the little girl's reach.

"Ah! You almost got me!" she shouted over her shoulder, glancing back to check how far behind Zippy was. Ziva was too busy looking back to notice Tony sneak up next to her and when he grabbed her she let out a startled scream.

"Ha! Gotcha! Come on Zippy, come and get her!" Tony laughed and called at the little girl,

"Ah! No! This is not fair! Cheat!" Ziva protested and squirmed in his arms but he kept a tight hold on her until Zippy reached them and grabbed her arm.

"See! Catched you!" she grinned triumphantly and Ziva groaned and flopped down in mock defeat.

"Even your ninja skills are no match for us!" Tony gloated and kept his tight grip around her waist. `

"Ah you are just too fast for me Zippy! Will you show Pickle how far you can swim?" The little girl nodded enthusiastically while Ziva continued to lean on Tony's chest, she could feel his hair brushing against her back. She wriggled again and he finally dropped his arms to his sides allowing her to step away from him.

"Come on then, you can move better without the this." she lifted Zippy out of the ring and pushed it to the side. "Move back Tony."

"Tell me when." he said and began walking through the water.

"Ok that will be fine."

"No! more!" Zippy protested, he took a step back, "More!" another step back, "More, more, more!" Tony moved a bit further back.

"_Zippy, are you sure, that's very far."_

"_I can do it Zizi!"_

"_Alright then, ready, steady, GO!"_ Zippy lunged forwards and began paddling through the water, determinedly. Ziva and Tony shouted and clapped as she pushed kicked and splashed towards him,

"You're almost there, come on!" she continued struggling through the water towards him until she was just over a metre away form him. Tony bent down and reached his arms out towards her as she propelled herself the last little bit until she finally reached him. He cheered and grabbed her, lifting her out of the water and holding her high over his head. "WOW! Well done, that was amazing!" Ziva smiled as she watched Zippy shriek and giggle in the air, flicking water everywhere. Little droplets were falling from her and dripping down onto Tony's chest before rolling down into the pool. She found herself staring at him, Tony didn't exactly have the perfect physique, definitely not the kind of body she usually found attractive. He wasn't rippled with muscles and although solid he was still a little bit cuddly around the edges and yet, here she was eyeing him up.

" . . . Ziva!" she suddenly realised that Tony was shouting to her,

"Oh, sorry what was that?" she asked innocently.

"I was just saying she's like a little fish huh?"

"Yes, very good Zippy!" she congratulated her distractedly,

"You ok?"

"Yes I am fine. I think I will go for a swim, are you ok with her?"

"Yeah sure, I prefer playing anyway not much of a swimmer!" He grinned and watched as dove elegantly under the water and glided past him.

Later that evening Tony stepped into the apartment, returning from an afternoon at his friend's "Hello?" He called out into the empty living room, there was no reply but he soon heard a door closing.

"Hi," Ziva emerged from the girls' room and walked over to the couch. "Did you have fun at Mike's?"

"Yeah was it was good we went to the park and played a few games, I of course, was unstoppable."

"Mmmm, of course." she smiled an leant back into the cushions as he sauntered over.

"Oh hey guess what!" he exclaimed suddenly as he flopped down next to her.

"What?"

"Andrew's getting _married!" _

"_Really?" _Ziva turned to face him a look of surprise etched across her face, she had met Andrew and he definitely did not seem like the marrying kind. "To who?"

"I dunno, some chick he met at a work thing. Just out of nowhere BOOM engaged then BOOM next month, wedding!"

"Well, good for them I suppose." she paused, "What does she look like?"

"Oooooh, she's HOT!"

"Uh-ha." Ziva nodded knowingly.

"Well someone's feeling cynical, maybe it was love at first sight. Maybe they're sole mates, you believe in that right?" he raised his eyebrows at her and she shrugged.

"Maybe." she replied quietly and they lapsed into silence for a few seconds, both staring at the wall in front of them.

"The guys are planning a week long bachelor party."

"What?"

"To Florida, they just decided today and started booking flights for next Monday!"

"Are you going?"

"Nah, thought I'd better not." Ziva smiled and tilted her head gently,

"Tony, you can go away with your friends, you are not tied to us!" he smiled and turned to look at her,

"Leaving in a week? I'll never get that off!" he shrugged and slouched down.

"You could ask."

"It's ok, I think I'm too old for that kind of holiday, don't you think?"

"Oh yes I do think so, I just did not realise you did!"

"Well y'know I think I've gained a certain maturity!" he grinned at her cheesily, "Besides I bet you a hundred bucks by this time next week that girl will be long gone!"

"Ah who is cynical now?" Ziva laughed shoved him light heartedly, he snorted indignantly and reached out to brace himself on the arm of the sofa.

"Well clearly, I am spending to much time with you!" he put his feet up on the coffee table and sighed. "Is Zippy in bed already?"

"Yes., she was exhausted from all the swimming."

"She was great, can't believe how fast she learns!"

"I know she is a natural. Leo's in bed too, she is feeling very sorry for herself."

"You take her to get that thing taken out?"

"Yes, but it is still very painful I think. But I have no sympathy, she is still very much in the dog's bed!" Tony chuckled and stood up,

"I think I'm going to have a bath, all this exercise in one day isn't good me." he stretched out his back and headed towards his bedroom.

Tony enjoyed a long soak before finally emerging from the bathroom an hour and a half later. Ziva was sitting on the bed already in her pyjamas.

"Are you sure that was long enough?" she asked sarcastically,

"Hey, if you're having a bath you gotta do it right. No point in jumping in for ten minutes!" he retorted as he towelled his hair dry. She watched him as he did, he was wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist. His skin was moist, still slightly hot and pink from the bath. Her breath began to quicken as erotic thoughts started to flash through her mind, she wondered what he would taste like. As she stared at his chest she imagined biting it, would it be firm or slightly soft? What kind of sound would he make? Ziva suddenly shook her head, trying to push these thoughts out of her mind. She should not be thinking about this, not about Tony, he was her partner. She jumped off the bed but tried to keep a normal pace as she headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth, the whole time repeating "He's my partner, my partner, my partner." to herself. Tony watched her strange behaviour and frowned, wondering what was going on in her head.

Several hours later Tony was woken by a sharp kick to the back of shin. He groaned and rolled over to try and shove Ziva away.

"Tony. . ." she whispered softly,

"What?"

"Tony . . ." she said again, only this time it was more of a whimper.

"What? What is it?" she said nothing more, just sighed deeply. He frowned and leaned over, her eyes were still closed he shook his head and lay back down, she was still asleep.

"Oh!" Ziva gasped and gripped the bed sheets tightly, Tony propped himself back up on his elbow, trying to work out what was going on. "Mmmmm . . . MMMMMMM, Tony" she arched her back slightly and her leg shot out and kicked him again.

"Oh wow . . ." Tony gasped, "She's dreaming about me!" he watched her writhe for a few more seconds, not wanting to wake her up and end it. He thought of all the times she had appeared in his dreams, he wondered if there were similarities with hers, would she let him do all the things he'd imagined doing to her? He couldn't hold himself back anymore and reached his hand out to her stomach.

"Ziva." he shook her gently and she jolted awake suddenly, her eyes wide open and shocked.

"Tony?" she gasped, "What . . . What is it?" she asked nervously.

"You were having a dream . . ."

"No, no I was not." she replied emphatically,

"You were. You definitely were, I heard you." Ziva blushed furiously, remembering all the things he had been doing in her dream, she couldn't even imagine what noises she would have been making. She didn't want to think about it.

"You imagined it, I was not dreaming." she snapped at him and rolled onto her side, leaving him staring at her back. Tony sighed and stared at her for a moment, weighing up his options until he impulsively just reached out and wrapped his right arm around her, pressing it against her tummy. He leant towards her and gently brushed his lips along the back of her neck before sighing and pressing his lips more firmly against her skin. Ziva gasped, it almost sounded like a sob, when she felt him kiss her but wrapped her fingers around his hand and tried to push it off of her. "Tony . . . Please," she whispered but he refused to let go and nuzzled her neck softly, breathing in her scent.

"No Ziva, no," he whispered, his hot breath skimming across her ear just before he kissed the skin right behind it. He then trailed his lips down her neck and along her shoulder, sucking it gently until she finally moaned and began rolling over. Ziva arched her head back, leaving her throat open for his lips, he obliged and pressed a hot kiss against every inch of her neck. His hand started to slide over her body, reaching up and stroking her face and then running slowly through her hair. She placed her own hand over his and guided it back down, firmly pressing it against her breast. Tony took the hint and squeezed it softly, eliciting a low groan from her , he squeezed it again, this time more tightly, and started moving his lips down from her neck towards her chest. He began to run his thumb in tight, slow, circles around her nipple while he moved down her body. Soon he ran out of skin and met her top but placed his mouth on top of her other breast, his hot breath teasing her through her thin vest. He flicked his tongue across its nipple and then took it in his mouth sucking it forcefully as she wriggled underneath him. He continued to taunt her through the fabric until she reached down and pulled up her top herself, desperate to feel his tongue on her skin. He only raised his head enough to allow her to move the garment up, keeping his face close to her body because he was afraid that if their eyes met the moment would be broken. Tony stared at her newly exposed breasts, they were perfect and pert, just the way he had imagined them. He suddenly lunged forward and took one back in his mouth, closing his eyes as his tongue swept across its soft skin. Ziva moaned loudly as his hand slipped down her stomach, gently caressing her as he ran his hand towards her thigh and then round to her butt and digging his fingers deep into her flesh.

"Tony!" she gasped and her own hand suddenly flew to his head, tugging his hair hard and he retaliated by closing his teeth around her hardening nipple. "AH!" Ziva squealed and jerked her hips up into the air. She was now panting hard as his teasing took its effect but it wasn't enough and she moved her other hand to her neglected breast, squeezing it herself. "Tony, Tony, please!" she gasped desperately, encouraging him to go further so he began to pull his hand away from her ass and round to the inside of her thigh. Ziva bit her lip in anticipation as his fingers moved tortuously slowly towards her centre, she whimpered and pushed his face deeper into her chest. His hand had just reached the bottom of her shorts, just inches away from his target when his phone erupted into life, vibrating and ringing on the bedside table. Ziva threw her head back into the pillow and moaned in frustration while he briefly leant his head against her chest before grudgingly rolling off of her to answer it.

"DiNozzo?" he answered tersely. Ziva pulled herself up slowly and wrapped her arms around her legs, shocked by what just happened. Well, what almost happened.

"Right," Tony barked down the phone while she spun round slowly and dropped her feet to the floor.

"Right, we'll meet you at the office then." Tony snapped his mobile shut and turned to look at Ziva but was surprised to see her halfway across the room. "We have to . . ."

"I heard, I will go and tell Leora that we have to go to work." she said coolly and disappeared out the door. He frowned after her for a few moments before jumping up and heading into the bathroom for a shower. He definitely needed a cool shower before work so he turned the water temperature right down and stepped under the cold torrent. He began scrubbing his body furiously, trying to decipher Ziva's strange reaction. What had happened? Two minutes ago she'd been squirming underneath him and now, well, she wasn't exactly in ecstasy. He stood under the cold stream and tried to plan out what he should do next, trying to guess what she was thinking. Once he felt that the cold water had done its job he hopped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He stepped out into the bedroom but found it empty.

"Ziva?" he called out and headed out into the hallway and then into the living room but there was no sign of her. She'd gone with out him.


	30. Chapter 30

Tony clenched his jaw tensely as he waited for the lift doors to slide open, his stomach was churning with nerves. All the way into work he had fruitlessly tried to work out what had just happened, why Ziva had mysteriously sneaked away. He ran the events through his head over and over again, it seemed as though everything had been going well! He shifted nervously from foot to foot, wondering what to expect when he saw her, was she going to be mad? Was she going to pretend like nothing had happened? Or maybe there was a legitimate reason for her disappearance, maybe . . . . The lift bumped to a stop, he took a deep breath and tried to compose himself before stepping out. He tried to stroll nonchalantly down the corridor, not wanting to draw any suspicion. After all, despite being cut off earlier than he had hoped, what he and Ziva had been doing definitely constituted a breaking of rule 12. Tony could see McGee working diligently at his desk but he would have to take another few steps to catch sight of Ziva, he paused for a second and then finally worked up the courage to greet her. He had done nothing wrong. He moved forwards and peered into Ziva's workspace, his nerves has been unfounded, she wasn't there. McGee looked up from his computer screen,

"Nice of you to join us." he grumbled sarcastically but Tony ignored him and stared at Ziva's empty chair.

"Where's Ziva?" he snapped causing McGee to frown at him,

"At the crime scene with Gibbs, he called her right after I called you, didn't she say before she left?"

"I was in the shower." Tony flung his bag down and sank into his seat, "Why just her anyway, doesn't he need all of us there?" McGee shrugged, stood up and took a sheet of paper over to Tony.

"He wants us here, there's a big paper trail. The dead Petty Officer had a bag full of fake driver's licences, all with different names and addresses, so far I've found bank accounts under three of the names as well as two houses and a yacht. We have to find out where all this money's coming from." Tony groaned and grabbed the sheet of paper,

"All these names? Seriously?"

"I already did half!" McGee retorted and returned to his own desk. Tony stared blankly at the piece of paper for a few seconds before leaning forward and waking up his computer. Great, just what he needed, a whole load of desk work.

An hour later Tony leant back and rubbed his eyes, not so long ago he had been sleeping soundly in his bed right next to Ziva. Now he was trapped at his desk shifting through the complex financials of a dead con man. Suddenly he heard the ting of the lift and looked up to see Gibb's emerge, followed by Ziva. He stared at her, her face was pale and etched with stress. Was it because of what they'd done? Had he made her feel this way? He kept his eyes fixed on her but she carefully avoided meeting his gaze, preferring to stare at the ground instead.

"DiNozzo!" Gibb's barked causing Tony to almost jump out of his skin,

"Yeah boss?"

"What you got?"

"uh well . . . A whole lot of names and accounts and money, dunno where it's coming from but . . ."

"Keep lookin'" Gibbs called over his shoulder as he strode away, Ziva watched him leave and then flicked her eyes over to McGee, checking he was still there, before slowly making her way behind her desk. She sat down and then began staring at her computer, she seemed uncomfortable. She looked tense, sitting bolt upright with her hand wrapped tightly around her mouse, Tony continued watching her. Ziva could feel his intense gaze but she determinedly kept her eyes averted, hoping that he would soon go back to his work. McGee began to feel the tension between them, the air was thick with a strained silence which he found even more distracting than their usual bickering. He tried to ignore it for a few moments until it became to much to bear,

"So, how did you feel on Saturday morning Ziva? Abby said that she hasn't felt that sick since Mardi Gras 2001." he laughed nervously and flicked his eyes between the other two.

"Yes, I felt quite ill too." Ziva said monotonously without looking up from the screen. The silence descended once more, McGee gulped and tried to get back to work. After another few minutes of unbearable tension he pushed back his chair. "I'm going to go and uhm see if Abby found anything else . . . . on the Petty Officer's uh . . . Clothes." he stuttered nervously as he tried to make up an excuse to leave but Ziva leapt to her feet before he had a chance to.

"It is alright, I will go McGee." she said quickly and abruptly left the bull pen. Tony watched her until she disappeared around the corner and then rubbed his forehead slowly.

"Tony, what's going on?" McGee asked quietly, worried that Ziva may return at any moment, their was a long pause before Tony finally answered,

"Nothing, everything's fine." he replied, unconvincingly.

Ziva leant against the cool metal of the lift's wall, glad to have escaped the oppressive atmosphere upstairs. She had felt Tony's eyes boring holes in her but she couldn't face looking up at him, not after what they'd done earlier. She cursed and reached out to press the emergency stop button, she needed time to think. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have risked their partnership like that? Their friendship? She was furious with herself, and with him, for being so reckless. And yet she couldn't get the feeling of his fingers dragging slowly against her flesh, his tongue against her skin, his breath against her ear, out of her head. Every time she closed her eyes she could hear him whispering her name, how did he do this to her? She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, Tony was her partner and a very close friend, well her best friend, and she didn't want to ruin that by getting involved in a fling. But maybe it wouldn't just be a fling, maybe it would be . . . Special. She sighed and imagined living with him forever, saying good night to him every evening, waking up next to him every morning, having dinner with him and the girls; after the past couple of months it wasn't that difficult to picture. She bit her lip and thought carefully for a few minutes before suddenly straightening up and starting up the lift again. No, no it would never work she decided. It was one thing to stay with him for a while, it was quite another to ask him to take on this kind of responsibility. Anyway, how would it look when she tried to convince a court to hand over the girls? She imagined the scene, what would she say, "Look at what I can offer them, a sofa bed in my partner's study, the same partner I'm having an illicit affair with because if we told our boss I could lose my job!" she shook her head, it would definitely not look good, ok she doubted that Gibbs would actually fire her but she couldn't take that for granted, her right to stay in the country was tied to her position. A new and insecure relationship would also detract from her case, she had to show that she could provide stability and she had to put gaining custody if the girls before everything else. Besides, so Tony started seducing her in the middle of the night it didn't necessarily mean he wanted to become her boyfriend, it was probably just lust. They had been living together, working together, sleeping together it was inevitable that something would eventually. She sighed and stepped out of the lift, she would have to think of a way out of this situation.

For the rest of the day Ziva carefully avoided Tony, she wasn't ready to talk to him yet, she was still trying to work out how to broach the subject. Tony was getting more and more frustrated with her, anytime they happened to be in the same place she made sure that she was never left alone with him. She leapt on every excuse which allowed her to leave the office or Abby's lab or wherever he was, the stress was starting to get to him, he was on edge all the time just waiting for her to pounce and make him explain himself. He sighed and turned away from his computer screen, he couldn't take any more bank accounts and money trails so he got up and headed to the vending machines. He tried to choose what he wanted but his head was so messed up he could barely even make that decision. Finally, once he had picked, he fed his dollar into the machine and waited, watching as the spiral began to turn pushing his chocolate slowly towards him. Just when the bar was almost ready to drop the machine stopped, keeping it trapped in its coil.

"DAMN IT!" Tony yelled and punched the machine, suddenly all his pent up emotions started bursting out.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" He shouted and slammed the plastic screen each time,

"Tony?" Ziva approached him apprehensively, shocked by the ferocity of his anger. He spun round instantly,

"So, you've decided you want to speak to me now?" he snapped.

"Tony I . . ." she started softly before being quickly interrupted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap it's just that I've been trying to talk to you all day and you've been avoiding me." he paused and then took a step towards her, "I really think we should discuss what happened last night." he added softly.

"It is not last night that I need to talk about, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" he asked, immediately concerned by her serious tone.

"Well, I just received a phone call from my builder, he said that my apartment is almost finished. The girls and I will be able to move back in this weekend." she said mechanically, as though it was a well rehearsed phrase. Tony stood in shocked silence for a few seconds as he tried to process the news.

"What?" he whispered, he felt his heart pounding in his chest as a strange panic began to take over his mind, "No, no why would you move out? You can stay with me for. . ."

"Tony, we were only staying with you for a short while, it was not permanent. Only until my apartment was finished and now it is." she stared at his chest as she spoke, not wanting to see the expression that went with his pitiful voice. He moved towards her and grabbed her arm,

"Ziva, Ziva you don't have to go back there, you need a bigger place you can just stay with me till then." he was squeezing her arm tightly but she slipped out of his grip.

"Tony, I do not think that would be a good idea . . ."

"This is about last night, why won't you just talk to me about it . . ."

"This is not about last night, last night is not important, nothing really happened it is not like we . . ."

"We would have, we would have if we hadn't been interrupted." Tony said firmly.

"You do not know that."

"Yes I do, you do too Ziva."

"It does not matter, it did not mean anything." she sighed and turned away from him.

"Doesn't mean anything? Of course it does!"

"Tony, just because you started touching me in the night does not mean something significant. We have been living too closely it was inevitable that a moment of lust would appear and . . ."

"Not significant? Lust? Ziva, that's not the way it was, this does mean something and we have to talk about it!"

"No! Tony, maybe you have something to think about but I . . ." her tone was becoming more forceful as she tried to close the conversation but it was getting out of hand.

"This is not just about me, it takes two Ziva if you hadn't wanted it you could have stopped me!" he hissed at her angrily so she spun around to face him.

"Well I tried!" she shouted, drawing the attention of a couple of passer-by's. As soon as the words past her lips she gasped, as though trying to suck them back into her mouth before they reached his ears. It didn't work, he looked stunned and staggered a couple of steps back, "Tony, I did not mean. . ." she stuttered but he just stared at her. He opened his mouth to say something but then just shook his head and stepped around her. "No, Tony wait, I did not mean to say that," she reached out to grab his arm but he stormed past her before she could catch hold. "Tony!" she shouted but he didn't turn back. She groaned and sank into a plastic chair, burying her face in her hands. That had not gone well.

Tony strode into the bull pen and threw himself into his seat, his face was contorted in a mixture of hurt and fury. McGee stared at him with concern, he looked over and saw him breathing heavily with his eyes closed as he tried to compose himself.

"Are you ok Tony?" he asked gently and had to wait a few seconds for a response.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he snapped before suddenly jumping up and leaving again. He headed upstairs and disappeared from sight just as Ziva returned. She looked almost as bad as Tony had, her face was pallid and drained,

"Hey, do you know what's wrong with Tony?" he asked her but she just shook her head slowly.

"No, I, I, do not." she lied unconvincingly and looked at the ground, "I have to go and pick up Zippy now, will you tell Tony that I will see him at home?"

"Sure."

"Thank you." she said and collected her things slowly. McGee watched her leave, trying to work out what had gone wrong. They had seemed so happy on Friday.


	31. Chapter 31

**Hi, just wanted to give a quick thank you for all your reviews although I know that a lot of you aren't exactly thrilled about where this is going at the mo lol! Also, I have just started my exam period so really am not sure when the next update will be since I should really be spending my time revising! Although that also means it's a year since I first started thinking about this story as it was during my exams last year, can't believe it's been that long! so an especially big thanks to anyone whos been reading from the very begining :-)) **

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Tony swirled the last mouthful of whisky around in his glass before gulping it down. He dropped the tumbler onto the bar and slowly spun it between his fingers while he stared dejectedly ahead. He had been sitting there for hours while he tried to dampen his anger with alcohol, it had worked, and now he was just enveloped in melancholy. How had everything gone so wrong so fast? This time yesterday he had been relaxing on the sofa with Ziva, like he had been doing practically every night since she'd moved in. They'd grown so comfortable together, having her and the girls around had felt right, like it was the way his life was meant to be. He'd ruined it though, five minutes was all it took for him to blow their new life, their friendship, their partnership to pieces. Why could he not just have kept his hands to himself?

"Want another?" Tony was too lost in thought to hear the barman's question, "Hey, buddy," he raised his voice slightly and this time he caught Tony's attention,

"Sorry?"

"Would you like another drink?"

"Oh right, uh . . ." Tony glanced at his watch, "No, could you call me a taxi?"

"Sure." the barman turned away, leaving Tony with his thoughts once more. He buried his face in his hands, how could he fix this? What could he do to convince Ziva to stay with him?

"It'll be here in ten minutes." The barman called over to him, Tony nodded.

"Thanks," he sighed and raised his glass, "Actually, I will have another."

Meanwhile Ziva was pacing through the flat. It was almost midnight and Tony wasn't home, her calls were going straight to voicemail and he wasn't replying to any of her texts. She picked up her phone and dialled once more, just in case he answered this time, he didn't. She threw it down on the sofa and then strode towards the window, staring out onto the street. Where was he? Probably in a bar somewhere, who was he with? Had McGee gone with him? Was he busy telling their colleague all about what had happened? Or maybe he was alone propping up the bar? Or maybe he was with another woman, one who was more than happy to give into him. She bit her lip as she imagined that situation, she didn't like the feeling that swelled up inside her in response. The thought of some other girl touching him made her stomach, or even worse, him running his hands over someone else's body. She left the window and flopped down onto the chair. Ziva lifted her hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose tightly, how was she going to fix this? When he got in they would talk properly, she would handle it more delicately this time.

Tony slumped down in the back seat of the taxi and pulled out his phone, he had seven missed calls and four texts. He considered phoning Ziva but then sighed and leant his mobile against his forehead. First he had to work out exactly what he was going to say. He would explain how he felt, try and convince her to stay and apologise his actions the night before. Tony stared out the window as the car slid through the streets. He flipped open his phone, Ziva was calling again but just as he considered answering when he was suddenly struck by a thought, why should he apologise? He had done nothing but help her, he had given her a place to live, had taken in her two girls and he had been by her side through all the trials of the past couple of months and this is how she thanks him? It's not like he expected her to sleep with him in return for his help, she had clearly been dreaming about him and obviously had been enjoying herself until they were interrupted. From the way she had acted today you'd have thought he'd been forcing her into it. He felt the fury build back up inside him, he'd spent all evening calming down and now he was five minutes from home and it was all back. He clenched his fist tightly and hoped that she was already asleep, he couldn't handle anymore of her indignance tonight.

Soon he was tripping up the steps, he had felt fine sitting at the bar but now that he was up and walking he suddenly seemed much more drunk than he had thought. He made it up to his door and shakily shoved his key into the lock, before stumbling into the flat. Ziva was sitting on the bed, hugging her knees under her chin when she heard him throw the door open and drop his keys into the counter.

"Tony?" she called and leapt up, running through to the hallway. "Where have you been?" Ziva hissed when she saw him.

"Some bar." he grunted in reply and slowly made his way towards her, swaying slightly.

"Are you drunk?"

"So?" she bit her lip and shook her head at his defensive response.

"I wanted to talk about what happened last night and . . ."

"What, so you can accuse me of, of, of practically _raping _you again? No thanks."

"Tony! Keep your voice down!" she glanced nervously at the girls' bedroom door while he stepped past her and into his own bedroom. She spun back around and followed him, "Tony," she reached out and grabbed his arm forcing him to face her. "What I said earlier, it did not come out as I had intended."

"Really? Which bit, the part where you said you were trying to protect yourself from me? What exactly did you _intend _to say?" he replied bitterly and shrugged her off his arm

"Tony, wait." Ziva said as he turned his back on her and grabbed his pyjamas. "I did not mean that I was trying to just . . ." she paused when he closed the bathroom door behind him but then walked over to it and continued. "I meant that I was trying to stop us _both_ from making that mistake. If we had not been called into work what do you think would have happened?" The door swung open and he emerged frowning angrily at her,

"Why are you sure it would be a mistake?" she was taken off guard by his reaction and averted her eyes from his and took a few seconds to respond.

"You know it would be. It is too complicated, what about work? What about the girls? What about . . ."

"Well, I think we've been doing pretty good so far!"

"This is nothing Tony, this is a couple of months not a lifetime."

"This isn't just any couple of months, this is the worst couple of months in your lives and look at how we've done? The girls are happy here and . . ."

"Tony you need to grow up and look at this seriously, what am I meant to say when I go into court for them. We living in my new . . . Boyfriend's flat, they are sharing a bed in his study. We broke rules at work to become a couple only a few weeks ago but now I am building mine and the girls' futures around a very new relationship. Do you really think that would be a convincing enough case to persuade any judge to grant me custody over their father? It does not exactly suggest that I can provide them with stability!"

"I need to grow up? Do you really think I'm still the same guy I used to be?" he snapped angrily, throwing his clothes onto a chair.

"No, I . . ."

""Do you think I don't understand how serious this is? That I 'm just having a great time playing house?" he shouted, brandishing his arm in the air.

"No, I do not think that you are the same. . ."

"Oh right, I'm just not good enough."

"Tony, we had one fight and your reaction was to go out and get completely drunk. It does not exactly scream maturity."

"I needed some space to calm down after what you said this afternoon, after what you accused me of!" he shouted furiously and Ziva folded her arms and licked her lips nervously before replying,

"I think that you are over reacting I was just trying to explain why . . ." Tony snorted and shook his head,

"Seriously, in this situation you think **I'M **the one over reacting?" He strode over to the bed and grabbed a pillow and the throw off the bottom and tried to dodge past her but she blocked his exit.

"Tony, wait."

"No, I can't handle anymore of this right now. Like you said I'm drunk and immature, I'm not sure what else I might say." he stared at her, his eyes burning with a kind of fury she'd never seen in him before.

"I did not mean to . . ."

"There seems to be a lot of things you didn't mean today." he said dryly and reached his arm to gently push her out of his way but she grabbed hold of it instead. He rook a step forwards regardless.

"Tony, at least stay here, I will sleep on the sofa."

"No." he raised his arm and shook her off, "You . . . Just stay here." he hissed tersely and stormed out of the room leaving Ziva staring after him.

Ziva was curled up in a ball under the duvet. She kept replaying her earlier conversations with Tony, thinking of times when she could have phrased things differently or even better, just kept her mouth shut. Every time she had tried to make things better their conversations had quickly become out of control, she had just made the situation worse. She thought about some of the things which had flown out of her mouth today and cringed, the thought of his hurt and angry expressions made her stomach churn. Especially the way he had looked at her just before he had stormed out, it was a kind of wounded rage she had never before witnessed in anyone, it was like she had an ability to inflict a special kind of pain on him. A panic was rising inside her, what if she could never fix this? What if this was the way their relationship was forever, had she managed to ruin one of the best friendships she'd ever had in one day? This thought filled her with dread, she couldn't imagine living her life without it. She bit her lip nervously, what if he was right, what if it wouldn't have been a mistake? Closing her eyes she remembered the way his touch had felt and shivered involuntary, she had never felt anything like it but she hadn't thought it was worth risking their friendship over a bit of lust. All she had done today was try and protect them but in doing so it seemed that she had destroyed their relationship. She sat up hesitantly, every time she had spoken to him about this it had escalated into a huge fight probably she should wait until morning to try again. But then she shook her head and swung her legs off the bed, she would never be able to sleep until this was resolved.

She padded through to the living room, "Tony?" she whispered but there was no response so she crossed the room towards him. "Tony?" she asked again just before she reached the sofa. She sat down on the coffee table in front of him, he was sleeping soundly, from here she could hear his gentle snores. Ziva sighed and rested her face in her hands, propping her elbows up on her knees. She watched him for a few minutes, he looked so peaceful, you would never know that just an hour earlier they had been having a furious argument. She always found him relaxing when he was asleep, his breathing was so soothing and often lulled her to sleep and he always looked so adorable and innocent. She bit her lip and frowned, should she find a friend adorable and soothing? Her feelings for Tony had always been confusing but since she'd moved in they'd become even more ambiguous. Ziva ran a hand through her hair and sighed before reaching out to touch his arm. She dangled it just above his skin, close enough to feel a couple of hairs brush against her fingers but suddenly she drew it back and dropped it onto her lap. She turned her face away from him and stared out the window for a few seconds before abruptly standing up and walking away.


	32. Chapter 32

**Hey! this is quite short just a quickie break from exams ah! halfway there though them now so woo hoo! anyway, thanks very much for all the reviews am worried people still aren't going to be happy with this but let me know what you all think :-) **

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Sleep had evaded Ziva all night and at five o'clock she was still staring at the ceiling waiting for the strong sense of foreboding to lift from her thoughts. Suddenly she just pushed back the covers and jumped out of bed, she had had enough of this wallowing, a run would clear her head. She quickly got dresses and then creaked open the bedroom door and peering out into the living room. She hoped Toy wasn't awake, she didn't know how to handle him at the moment so she stood still and strained her ears. She could just about make out some gentle snores drifting from the living room so she crept through the flat before slipping out the door.

A short while later the other bedroom door swung over and Zippy marched across the hallway into Tony's room, harrumphing indignantly when she found the bed empty. She turned around and padded through to the living room where she found Tony sleeping deeply on the sofa, she reached out and prodded his shoulder gently. "Pickle." she whispered, no reply so again she prodded, "Pickle." but Tony just snorted and continued snoring. She sighed and grabbed his arm and began shaking it roughly, "PICKLE!" she shouted causing Tony to jerk suddenly awake,

"What!" he sat bolt upright, "What, what is it?" he asked confused and alarmed at his rude awakening he turned to look at Zippy who now had her arms folded,

"Why you here?" she frowned at him accusatorily, Tony opened his mouth and then glanced around him as though he wasn't quite sure himself. He shrugged and patted the sofa next to him and the little girl smiled and scrambled up onto his knee, "Toons?" she asked hopefully so he reached out for the remote and turned on the T.V before flopping back down and closing his eyes tightly to block out the flashing lights of the cartoon. He soon felt Zippy curl up against his chest, her long pony tail tickling his skin. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly for a few moments until she grunted and wriggled. He loosened his grip slightly but kept holding her until she suddenly sat up,

"Please, may I have some . . ." she wrinkled her mouth while she thought, "Hoops." she finished her sentence and grinned at him smugly, Tony laughed and propped himself up on his elbows,

"Wow, did you learn that at nursery?" she nodded proudly,

"Is p'lite, very nice." he laughed again and sat up,

"Well since you asked so nicely, of course you may have some hoops." he slipped her off his knee and headed through to the kitchen.

Half an hour later he was taking Zippo's bowl back through to the kitchen when Ziva returned from her run, all hot and sweaty and still not sure how to fix things with Tony. Hopefully he had calmed down this morning, maybe he'd be able to see her point of view today. She slipped through the door, Zippy glanced up from the sofa,

"Hi Zizi!" she grinned happily and Ziva walked over and kissed the little girl's head before turning round and walking with trepidation towards the kitchen. She hovered nervously and waited for Tony turn around, he finished pouring a cup of coffee before finally facing her.

"Well . . . Morning." he sighed and leant back on the counter.

"Morning." she practically whispered before they lapsed back into silence. Ziva stared at the floor for a few moments before opening her mouth, "I . . ." she licked her lips before continuing, "I am not sure . . . What happened yesterday. I think, well I know I said things I did not mean."

"I think things got out of hand." he sighed and took a sip of coffee.

"Well, I am sorry if I said things which hurt you, I did not mean to say that you were immature or that you … well you know." he nodded curtly, "But, I still think that us moving out is the best thing for all concerned." Tony opened his mouth but she held up her hand to stop him. "Please Tony, you must see that it is not practical for us to stay here indefinitely."

"I do, but you can't stay in your own place forever either, its even smaller! You need a new place to live so what's the point of going back there just to move out again?"

"Because I do not know how long it will take, it could be a long time. I do not want us, the girls, getting anymore accustomed to this, to living with you." Tony put down his coffee and crossed the room towards her, stopping only when he was a few inches away from her.

"Why, scared of getting attached?" she stood her ground but did not look up, keeping her eyes fixed on his chest before finally stepping back from him,

"Tony please don't." he shook his head and leaned against the counter,

"Fine," another awkward silence emerged while they both dutifully avoided looking at each other.

"I have not told the girls yet, I am going to do it tonight."

"I'm going out tonight." he replied tersely and headed towards the bedroom once again leaving Ziva staring after him.

Ziva was sprawled out on the sofa that night, it was getting late again and Tony was still not home. She had finally told the girls that they were moving out. It hadn't been as bad as she had expected, Leo had just went into their room and had not come out, Zippy had been a bit upset but Ziva was worried if she actually understood exactly what was going to happen but at the moment she didn't have the energy to deal with it. She sighed and closed her eyes, she should probably go in and see if Leo was in bed yet but part of her was sure that she was in no mood to talk to her. She was just about to stand up and go to bed herself when the door opened and Tony strolled in.

"Hello,"

"Hey,"

"I told the girls that we are leaving."

"How'd they take it?"

"Well, I am not sure that Zippy really understands = but I do not know how to make it clearer. I believe she thinks that you are coming with us. Leo has just been in her room all night, maybe you could go speak to her. If you want." he nodded and dropped his keys onto the table and glanced towards the girls' door.

"Yeah, I think I will." he said quietly moved towards before knocking gently in case she had fallen asleep.

"What?" she asked so he shoved the door open and stepped inside. Leo had a case open on the bed while Zippy was curled up in a ball on the other side. She glanced up at him momentarily before going back to folding up a t-shirt.

"Hey." he said quietly but she didn't respond. "What are you doing?"

"Packing" she replied bluntly" Why are you making us leave?" she snapped and spun around,

"What? Did Ziva tell you that?" he demanded to know as he stepped towards her. Leo shrugged and folded her arms,

"Well, no, I just assumed. Why else would we be moving out?"

"Well, there are a lot off reasons. It's just not practical for you all to live here, I mean look." he gestured towards Zippy lying in their bed. Leo followed his eyes to her sister.

"I do not mind sharing a bed with Zippy."

"I know, for now but not for the long term and you know, it doesn't look good for Ziva's case, you all to be crammed into my place." he couldn't believe he was repeating the exact same justifications which had so frustrated him earlier. Leo nodded and picked up another t-shirt to fold. "I don't think that you really have to start packing now you know." he took another step towards her and smiled slightly. She shrugged and dropped the shirt into the case.

"Yes I know, it is not like I have much stuff to pack." she sighed and stared at her small pile of belongings. Tony gulped and desperately thought of a way to respond, some comforting words but before he had a chance to say anything she turned back to face him, fixing her imploring eyes on his, "So we are not going because you want us out? You are not kicking us out?" she asked quietly, her sad tone causing Tony's stomach to clench.

"No, Leo, I'm not kicking you out." he smiled at her which she returned shyly.

"Good, because. . ." she averted her eyes and continued, "Well, I . . . we, me and Zippy like living here and I . . . Zippy will miss living with you." Leo finished awkwardly, nervously tugging on he waist band of her jeans. Tony smiled and hesitated slightly before reaching out and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'll miss you too Leo." he said firmly and as soon the words past his lips she seemed to relax against his chest and lifted her own arms up around his back, hugging him back just as tightly. 


	33. Chapter 33

**I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEE! ah uni all done for the year wooo hooo! my brain is exhausted after cramming in all the revision so i'm quite concerned that this chapter isn't great but oh well i'm sure it's better than nothing! I'm jumping forwards a bit cause I felt that the whole angry tension might start to get a little annoying so have skipped right to them moving out to hurry things along a bit! I've read this through a couple of times and fixed a few mistakes but there's probably loads more and there's something about this chapter that just doesn't seem _right_ but i don't know what and frankly it's 2 in the morining and i've spent the last month memprising 1500 yrs of history so i am pretty much past caring lol! anyway hope you like it even if i don't and thanks for all the reviews guys they always bring a wee smile to my face!** :-))

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Ziva unlocked the door to her flat and pushed it open the smell of fresh paint flooded her nostrils as she stepped inside, followed by Tony and the girls. Tony glanced around, the walls were bare while the room was sparsely furnished with just a small sofa and a dining table. He sighed and dropped the suitcase he was carrying,

"Well, very practical." he said sharply.

"Uh, funny smell." Zippy complained as she stomped past Tony into the middle of the floor before shrugging off her little rucksack and emptying its contents onto the floor. Ziva sighed and surveyed the mess the little girl had instantly created,

"Making yourself at home already." she smiled and watched her rummage through her toys for a few seconds before glancing up to find Tony staring at her. He didn't look away when she met his gaze, his face was blank and unreadable so eventually she found herself turning away.

"Right," Tony thrust his hands into his pockets and shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, "Well I guess I'll be going then."

"Already?" Leo exclaimed from behind him.

"Yeah well, I, I have things to do." he replied quietly."

"What kind of things?"

"Just, things."

"Are you sure you want to go now?" Ziva blurted out suddenly. "You could stay for dinner."

"No, really, I have to go."

"What about a cup of coffee?" She asked again, suddenly desperate for him to stay just a little while longer.

"No." he replied shortly, before squatting down next to Zippy and holding his arms out to her. "I'm going no honey, come say bye." the little girl glanced up at him.

"Bye bye."

"No, I want a hug." he demanded causing her to sigh and stand up from her game.

"K Pickle."

"Thank you." He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly until she started wriggling. He let her go and she stepped back slightly but kept her arms resting on his shoulders.

"Where you going?" she frowned at him quizzically, confused by his strange behaviour.

" I'm going home and you're staying here with Ziva and Leo remember?" He had lost count of the number of times he and Ziva had been through this with her this week.

"Uh huh." she said simply and turned back to her toys leaving Tony feeling wounded by her indifference. Although he was relieved she wasn't deeply upset a few tears would have been nice. He straightened up and turned towards Leo who was leaning sullenly against the wall, she smiled at him weakly and stepped towards him.

"Bye" she sighed dejectedly and hugged him tightly for a few seconds before stepping back and looking up at him. "Will you come back soon?"

"Yeah of course." he flashed her his most charming smile, "You'll be sick of the sight of me!" he let her go and took a couple more steps towards the door.

"Well thank you Tony, for everything." Ziva called out after him.

"You're welcome." he spun round to look at her.

"Are you sure you do not want a coffee, or a beer or dinner?" she asked desperately, after spending the last week determinedly making plans to move away from him she suddenly didn't want to see him leave. He shook his head and turned back towards the door.

"Bye" he said, mostly directed at Leo.

"I will see you on Monday." Ziva shouted just as he closed the door behind him, she stared after him and slowly sank into a dining chair, cradling her head in her hands. Leo strode towards her,

"_Why are you doing this?"_ she hissed angrily.

"_Not now Leo"_

"_Why did you make us move out?"_

"_I said NOT NOW!"_ Ziva slammed her hands down onto the table and glared at her furiously causing Zippy to jump in surprise but Leo just pursed her lips and stormed towards the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Ziva sighed and returned her head to her hands and sat like that until she felt Zippy tugging on her trousers so she moved her arms out of the way allowing her to clamber onto her knee.

"Zizi" she reached up and touched her face, _"You are saaaaad" _she ran her little fingers from Ziva's eyes down her cheeks. "_Why?"_

"_I'm not sad sweetie."_ Ziva smiled unconvincingly,

"_Yes."_ Zippy replied emphatically, leaning up to press her nose against Ziva's and staring into her eyes. _"Zizi?"_

"_What?"_

"_When Pickle coming back?"_ Ziva sighed and leant back, trying to remain calm.

"_Pickle's gone home, to his house. And you, Leo and I are staying here at our house."_

"_Uh huh, we stay here, Pickle go home. But when he coming back here?" _Ziva sighed deeply and closed her eyes, she and Tony had explained this over and over again. What was hard to understand? She couldn't even work out what Zippy was miss-understanding, how could they possibly be more clear about this? It was like the little girl was being deliberately obtuse.

"_I'm not sure." _she dodged the question and gently placed Zippy on the floor before standing up and carrying the bag of shopping she had brought into the kitchen. She slowly began unpacking and putting it away in the empty cupboards. Her kitchen had been completely destroyed by the fire and she had chosen the most plain one she could find to replace it, hoping it would aid a speedier sale. When she had finished that she pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open, she really wanted to call Tony. She hated the way things were between them now, she kept thinking back about all the things she could have done differently which could have prevented their relationship reaching its currently precarious state. She could have been stronger and said no that night, she should have handled it better and not just run away, she should have tried to stay calm and not accuse him of trying to force her, she should have kept her temper in check. There were so many things she should have done and now it seemed like it was too late to fix them, Tony hadn't even looked at her as he said goodbye. She shut her phone, he was too angry and it was too soon to phone, he had only left half an hour ago. Ziva reached over to turn on the kettle and set about making a cup of tea as she tried to keep her mind off Tony. But as soon as she had the steaming mug in her hand she picked up her phone again and flicked through to his number. She stood and stared at it for a few moments, trying to work out what she would say, what reason could she have for phoning? Maybe she should say she had forgotten something, but what? She pondered this for a while, what was important enough that she would have already realised she had forgotten and needed right now? It suddenly came to her, Zippy's favourite teddy, her stuffed duck, she couldn't sleep without it. She pressed call, thinking how ridiculous it was that she was building up this lie just to speak to him, her partner, the man she had been living with for over a month; how had it come to this? It rang to voicemail so she sighed and hung up before trying his house phone too, just in case. It went to the answer machine as well so she shut her phone and shoved it into her back pocket. What had happened to never be unreachable?

Leo stayed in her room most of the night and carefully ignored Ziva during the little time they spent in the same room. The next day wasn't much better, she simply said she was going out first thing in the morning and hadn't returned until the evening, Ziva knew that she shouldn't be allowing this sulky behaviour but frankly ignoring it was less hassle than confronting the girl. Ziva had spent the day trying to create a more homely atmosphere in the small flat but the few plants and cushions she bought had little effect. On top of this Zippy was becoming more and more fractious and kept asking about Tony, where was he, what was he doing, when was he coming back. Ziva had tried calling Tony several times so that Zippy could at least talk to him but he was clearly avoiding her calls so she had taken to giving her vague answers which were doing nothing to assuage Zippy's anxiety. It was just about the little girl's bedtime and she was wrapped up in her bright yellow fluffy dressing gown when Ziva picked out a story for her. She sat down next to Zippy on the sofa and opened the book.

"_No, I want Pickle to do story time."_ she complained.

"_Well not tonight, he's not here just now . . ."_

"_Where is he, when Pickle coming back?"_

"_He is at his house Zippy and we are at ours. . ."_

"_But why?" _

"_Because this is where we live."_

"_Pickle too." _The little girl said stubbornly.

"_No Zippy! How many times do you need to be told? No more pickle, just you Leo and I!"_ Ziva snapped suddenly and instantly regretted it when she saw Zippy's trembling lip, "_Oh Zippy I didn't mean to snap."_ she reached out to touch the little girl but she ducked back and pushed Ziva's hand away.

"_NO! Don't want you! I want PICKLE!"_ She screamed at the top of her little lungs.

"_Well he's not here anymore, it's just me!"_

"_I DON'T LIKE YOU!" _Zippy shouted and jumped off the sofa before running over to the table and throwing herself underneath. At any other time Ziva would have laughed at the sight of the little girl sitting crossed legged and sulky between the chairs but tonight she couldn't summon even an ounce of humour. She pinched the bridge of her nose tightly and reached for her phone, once again dialling Tony's number and again just getting his voicemail. This time she left a message, "Tony, I know that you are not wanting to speak to me but. . . ." her voice was wavering slightly, "I think that Zippy would really like to talk to or see you, and so would Leo, and so would I so maybe, maybe you could call me back. Please." She hung up and sank down slowly into the sofa, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. She hated sounding so pathetic, having to ask for his help, she had spent one day alone with the girls and already neither one was speaking to her. While she was busy kicking herself for being so useless she suddenly became aware that she was being watched and turned her head to see Leo staring at her from the doorway. Wordlessly she walked towards the sofa and sat down close to Ziva so that their thighs were touching. They sat quietly for a few minutes until Leo slouched back and leant her head against Ziva's shoulder,

"_I am sorry I shouted at you_." She said quietly and Ziva raised her arm and wrapped it around Leo's shoulder.

"_Don't worry about it."_ they sat silently for a couple of minutes until Leo spoke again.

"_Where's Tony?"_ she asked quietly.

"_I don't know, I think he's very angry with me."_

"_He won't be forever, he'll come around don't worry."_ Ziva chuckled and lifted her hand slightly to stroke Leo's hair.

"_I hope you're right."_

"_I am, trust me." Leo said confidently._


	34. Chapter 34

Late on Sunday night Ziva was sitting on her sofa bed finishing a hot cup of tea. She placed her cup on the side table next to her, leant back into the cushions and stared blankly at the roof. The weekend had felt long with Zippy being grumpy and agitated the whole time. She had never really behaved like this before, even after Hannah died she had just been clingy and anxious but this attitude was all new and Ziva didn't know how to handle her. She had asked several times a day when Tony was coming or when were they going back to Tony's or where was Tony and every time she received a reply she didn't like she flew into a sulk. Ziva leaned onto one side to pull her phone out of her back pocket and stared at it thoughtfully for a few moments. She had phoned Tony at least ten times since Saturday morning and every time it had gone straight to voicemail. He hadn't returned any of her calls or replied to any of her messages and for a while she had been deeply concerned and had even considered driving past his flat to see if he was their and ok. However, she had convinced herself that that would be one step to close to creepy, he clearly did not want to speak to her so probably would not welcome spotting her hanging around outside his home spying on him. He probably just needed this weekend to cool off before work on Monday, hopefully by then he may have come some way towards forgiving her. She stood up and began removing the cushions from the sofa and pulling out the bed while thinking of ways to ingratiate herself with him in the morning. She continued considering this while she got ready for bed and decided that she would stop by his favourite deli and bring him in his breakfast, it was a small step but hopefully it would show him that everything she had done in the past week was not aimed at deliberately hurting him. It would show that she had been thinking about him, well that and the slightly stalkerish number of phone calls and texts. She climbed into bed and lay staring into the darkness for a while, trying to clear her mind enough to sleep but it wasn't working so she sat up to try Tony one more time. She wasn't surprised when she got no answer yet again, sighing she put down the phone and lay back down, hoping that tomorrow would lead to a thawing in their relationship.

She arrived at work slightly later than usual as she was laden down with breakfasts for everyone since she knew there would be a petted lip from McGee if she only brought in something for Tony. She struggled along to the bull pen,

"Good Morning McGee." she said brightly,

"Morning, something smells good." McGee eyed up the packages hopefully,

"I brought in breakfast," she threw him over his burrito and he grinned appreciatively,

"Mmmmm," he unwrapped and examined it while she watched, "Great, just exactly the way I like it thanks!" he took a giant bite out of it while she started making her way over to Tony's desk.

"Is Tony not in yet?" she asked and glanced at her watch, "It is getting late, even for him." McGee froze, his mouthful and burrito hanging in the air,

"Uhm . . . Tony's not coming into today, he's uh. . . Off all week, he's gone on holiday with his college friends." McGee squirmed uncomfortably as Ziva's face flushed scarlet, "You didn't know?"

"No . . . I . . . He did not tell me." she replied quietly as she stood in the centre of the room. She felt her cheeks burn in humiliation, he hadn't told her he was going away, they had been living together and still had said nothing. Infact, he hadn't even omitted telling her he must have actively prevented her finding out, even McGee knew! She turned away from McGee so he wouldn't see her hurt expression and savagely hurled Tony's breakfast into the bin. "Right, well I suppose I shall go and take Abby's down to her, she is here isn't she?" she asked sharply,

"Yeah, yeah she's here."

"Did she know Tony was going away?"

"Yeah, she knew, I thought everyone did." McGee said insensitively and immediately regretted it but Ziva just sighed deeply and grabbed the paper bag off her desk and strode towards the lift without looking back at him again.

As soon as she entered the lift she leant heavily against the wall and closed her eyes, trying desperately to compose herself. She didn't know which emotion was effecting her the most, anger, hurt, embarrassment. Although it didn't really matter which one was the most powerful, they were all assaulting her right now. She only had a few seconds alone before the lift came to a stop on the next floor so she turned to face the wall and leant her head against it to hide her face from whoever got on until she could be sure it was no longer betraying her emotions.

"Ziva?" she cringed at the sound of Gibbs' voice, of all the people who worked I the building it just had to be him that got into this lift. She swallowed and turned around slowly,

"Good morning Gibbs." she met his piercing blue eyes for just a second before dropping her own to the floor while he continued to examine her closely. He sighed and turned his back to her, she waited for him to make some comment about her appearance or ask what was wrong but instead he simply said;

"What's in the bag?"

"I brought in breakfast for everyone, this is Abby's."

"Everyone?"

"McGee, Abby, Tony . . . But he is not here, apparently, so I had to throw it out." her voice wavered slightly despite her desperate efforts to keep it cool and even.

"Did you take in something for me?"

"I brought you coffee, I did not realise that you liked to eat brea . . ."

"I eat porridge, plain no salt no sugar." he turned and grabbed the bag out of her hand. "I'll give this to Abby, you take a walk and bring me some." the lift stopped and he stepped out, Ziva opened her mouth to argue with him and tell him that she was fine but before she could he spun round and stuck his arm back inside to press the ground floor button. He fixed his intense stare on her which kept her rooted to the spot.

"Don't hurry back." he said simply just as the doors slid shut, leaving her alone in the lift once more.

That evening Ziva trudged up the stares to her apartment hoping that a day at nursery might have calmed Zippy down because she wasn't sure that she was capable of calmly answering the where's Tony question tonight. She stepped through the door and called out to the girls but only got a reply from Leo who was sprawled out on the sofa watching TV.

"Where's your sister?" she asked as she lifted the girls feet so that she could sit down before placing them back down across her lap.

"She's in her room in a major sulk because I told her Tony wouldn't be coming tonight."

"Ah." Ziva sighed and slouched back into the cushions.

"Are you ok? You look terrible."

"Thanks!" Ziva scoffed and frowned jokingly at her.

"Oh come on I mean tired, I'm just being sympathetic!"

"Well I am fine, but I found out that Tony has gone on holiday."

"On holiday?" Leo sat up in surprise, "Where to? For how long? Who with?"

"He's gone to Florida for a week with his friends."

"Oh, did he decide like, last minute?"

"Well, everyone at work knew so not that last minute."

"But not you?" Ziva shook her head slowly. "I didn't know either, he said he'd be seeing us all the time." Leo said softly and Ziva just shrugged and began stroking the girl's legs gently.

"What would you like for dinner?" Ziva asked after a couple of minutes silence.

"I don't know, can you really be bothered cooking?"

"No!" Ziva laughed wriggled down even further into the sofa. "Let's order some Chinese." she sighed and Leo nudged her with her foot.

"Tut tut, Ziva you're a bad influence on us! But yeah lets!" she jumped up and walked over to the kitchen counter where she'd placed a menu which had been shoved through the letterbox that afternoon. "We got a new menu today do you want to live dangerously and try it or will we just stick to your usual place?"

"You decide, I'll go and see if I can wrestle Zippy into the bath."

"Good luck with that, when I say major sulk I mean MAJOR."

"We could swap?"

"No thanks!"

"Uh ok." Ziva hauled herself to her feet and headed towards the girls' room.

15 minutes later Zippy was happily splashing around in the bath while Ziva sat parched on the toilet watching her, the little girl hadn't been as grumpy as expected. Ziva had let her pour in her own bubbles which had perhaps not been the best idea since the bath looked like it was full of snowy mountain peaks rising up around Zippy who was happily knocking their tops off and laughing as they floated down into the water. Ziva reached out and grabbed a fluffy handful and blew on it, sending bubbles flying through the air towards Zippy who giggled and tried to copy her but somehow only managed to give herself a big white beard. Ziva smiled and moved to kneel on the floor next to the bath so she could start washing the little girls hair. She was massaging in the shampoo when Zippy suddenly sighed and asked,

"Where's Pickle, when is he coming back?" Ziva stopped rubbing and began to gently stroke her head instead, wondering what she should say. If she didn't tell the truth then Zippy would keep asking about him everyday so she told her,

"Tony is going to be away for a little while, he's gone on holiday."

"Holiday?" Zippy turned and fixed her big brown eyes on Ziva. "Where?"

"Florida." Zippy looked at her blankly so she sighed and picked up the jug she use for rinsing her hair. "You know where Disney World is, that's Florida."

"Pickle went to Disney, he went to Disney without me?" Zippy asked sadly, her lip wavering slightly. "I love Disney, is my favourite."

"Well . . . I don't think he is actually going to Disney world, he is just going to the state that it's in. He will probably just be hanging around his hotel sunbathing and things, very boring things you wouldn't like. No playing or princesses."

"Oh." Zippy said as Ziva began pouring clean water through her hair. "How long?"

"I think he is going for a week."

"Hmmmm, a week is lots of sleeps." Zippy said quietly and began gently pushing a mound bubbles from one hand to the other.

"Well, it's not that many Zippy, it will go by really fast." Ziva tried to reassure her as she finished up rinsing her hair.

"And then Pickle come here and see me?" Zippy turned to her hopefully, "After the sleeps?"

"Well, maybe, I'm sure he'll come and see you soon after them."

"In 8 sleeps maybe?"

"Yes, maybe." Ziva tried to smile convincingly but it didn't seem to work as Zippy just dropped her eyes and sighed.

"Oh, ok." she said sadly just as the door buzzer went.

"Ooooh I thinks that's our dinner Zippy!" Ziva said cheerfully in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Are you ready to jump out?"

An hour later Ziva was sitting on the sofa working up the energy to wash the dishes when the girls' bedroom door opened and she heard the padding of Zippy's big fluffy slippers against the floor. She turned to look at her and saw the little girl was carrying a book under one arm and her cuddly duck in the other. She reached the sofa and scrambled up next to Ziva, dropping the book on her lap.

"Read us a story?" she asked hopefully,

"Of course." Ziva smiled, evidently she was forgiven, and reached down to open the book. Zippy grabbed hold of her arm and wrapped it around her shoulders so that she could snuggle right up against her while she read. When Ziva had finished the book she flipped it shut and twisted her hand back to stroke Zippy's hair, "Did you like that story?" The little girl nodded and then impulsively flung her arms around Ziva and squeezed her tightly.

"Zizi?"

"Yes?"

"You won't go away without me, you'll always take me too?" she asked, her voice muffled against Ziva's side. Ziva reached down and pulled Zippy up onto her knee and tilted her little face up to look at hers.

"Zippy, I will never leave you, you will always be with me; always, always, always, ok?" she said solemnly as her thumb brushed against Zippy's cheek. The little girl smiled and leant her head against Ziva's chest.

"Good." Ziva bent down and kissed her head softly. "Zizi?"

"Mmmhmmm?"

"I sleep with you tonight?" Ziva sighed,

"Well ok, but no bed hogging!" she tickled Zippy's sides gently causing the little girl to giggle before replying indignantly

"Is not me! You much bigger and sleep like this!" she flung her arms and legs out like a star in imitation of Ziva's sleeping position, "No space left for me!" Ziva laughed and wrapped her arms around Zippy again, holding her tightly.

* * *

**Hey! thanks again for all your reviews they're really great and I'm so pleased this story is turrning out to be quite popular! Just wanted to explain that petted lip is a phrase used where I'm frm to describe a kind of sulky, pouty, childish face like when a kid is annoyed or jealous and pokes out their bottom lip really far- that's their petted lip! i say it all the time down here and no one ever seems to know what it means and I couldn't think of a word to describe the exact expression! anyway maybe you knew what it meant and people down here are just stupid lol but just wanted to make sure incase people were like hmmmmm what the hell is that? anyway thanks again and let me know what you think! **


	35. Chapter 35

For the rest of the week Ziva refused to try calling Tony again, if he didn't want to talk to her then fine, she wasn't going to beg any more. Instead she concentrated on finding a new and bigger home which occupied her thoughts and pushed Tony as far out of her thoughts as possible. She had found an apartment not far from where she was living and although it wasn't ideal she wasn't in the market for a dream home and since it was cheap and convenient so she had jumped in with an offer. However, despite her best efforts there were of course moments when her thoughts drifted towards Tony, what he was doing or where he was or how he would behave when he returned. It was this question which hung heavily over her as she arrived at work on Monday morning and even while she was standing in the lift Ziva wasn't sure she knew how she would act when she saw him. Was she angry with him? Or would she just try and put everything behind them and move on? She gulped and stepped out into the bullpen, peering over to their desks to see if he was in yet. He was, he was standing with his back towards her talking to McGee, she gulped and set off towards them.

"You are back." she said, slightly more bluntly than she had meant to, he spun around to greet her.

"Yeah," he seemed like he was about to continue but instead he simply fell silent and stared at her. He had developed an impressive tan for a weeks holiday and his skin was now a deep golden brown.

"Did you have a good trip?"

"Yeah, yeah it was good." he paused and picked up a bag from McGee's desk. "I brought back presents for the girls." Ziva reached out and took them from him,

"Good, I am sure that they will appreciate that." she said briskly as she sat down in her chair, dropped the bag on the floor and began typing furiously, keeping her eyes firmly set on her computer screen.

For the rest of the day a tense atmosphere hovered over their workspace, perhaps even worse than the tension before Tony went on holiday. They spoke in curt sentences and still avoided being alone together but still stealing the occasional furtive glance across the bullpen as though they were sizing each other up. McGee escaped at the earliest possible opportunity, throwing a goodbye over his shoulder and hoping that once alone Tony and Ziva could maybe talk things over. However, almost as soon as he left Ziva began gathering her things together.

"Well, goodnight." she said as she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked past Tony's desk. He looked up and watched her go towards the lift but then suddenly called out.

"Are you angry I went away?" she paused and turned around.

"No, I am not angry that you went on holiday."

"Really cause it sure seems like you are." he stood up and strolled towards her.

"Well, I suppose I was a bit angry about how you sneaked off without telling me but I cannot decide if it was more cowardly or malicious." he opened his mouth to protest but she silenced him by continuing, "We were _living together_ and you didn't tell me that you were going and yet everyone else knew it! You must have known how embarrassing it would be for me to come in and ask where you are only to discover that the entire building knew that you were sunning yourself in Florida!"

"Well it may surprise you to know I didn't go on holiday solely to embarrass you." he snapped sarcastically. " I went because I thought a bit of space was what we needed, because I didn't think our partnership would survive without a break."

"And humiliating me was just a happy bonus then?" Ziva sighed and reached out to press the button to call the lift.

"not everything is about you, how many times do I need to say it!"

"Oh trust me Tony, I know very well that not everything is about me, I know that very little is about me now. Which is something you need to try and understand." she stepped inside the lift and turned to face him as he joined her. " Just because I may want something doesn't mean I can just have it, I need to think about what's best for the girls now not for myself."

"You talk the talk Ziva but you're the one messing them about, you should see that I care about them too!" he reached out and flicked the emergency stop and waited for a response. Ziva let out a long sigh and shook her head,

"You see Tony, this is why I am not angry with you, I am relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Yes, I felt so guilty about what I said about you being immature and for moving the girls out but this week you have proven that I made the right decision."

"What?"

"You can say whatever you want about how much you care about the girls but actions speak louder than words Tony and you ran away to sulk like a big child. It was my decision to move out of your flat but it was yours to disappear completely from their lives."

"That's not what I did."

"No Tony that is exactly what you did, all week Zippy has been asking where is Pickle? When is he coming back? When is he coming to see me? And what do I say to that? That I don't know because he set me up to be embarrassed at work?" she raised her finger to stop him interrupting "And that is what you did Tony, you deliberately didn't tell me!"

"Hey, just because I wanted away from you for a while doesn't mean I was running away from them!"

"Oh really?" Ziva hissed and stepped towards him, "Well _maybe_ you should have told the girls that instead of promising to see them all the time, _maybe _you should have contacted Leo you don't have to go through me to talk to them."

"Oh come on it was one week!"

"One week is a long time when you are three years old Tony." Ziva turned the lift on and stood back against the wall while Tony processed her words. The doors slid open and she stepped around him and out into the corridor but he reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her moving any further.

"I was just . . . I was just upset that you moved out with the girls."

"I know." Ziva's said softly, "But that does not matter, it does not matter how you feel or how angry with me you are just as it does not matter how I feel about you. What does matter is that Leo and Zippo rah have a stable life which is something that we cannot provide together." she dropped her eyes to the floor as she tailed of and shrugged out of his grip before turning away and heading for the car park.

"Hello!" Ziva called out as she entered her flat.

"Zizi!" she heard a thump as Zippy leapt off her bed and ran through to greet her. Ziva bent down to hug her,

"So what did you do today?"

"Lots." Zippy replied cryptically and grinned at her, Ziva stood up and raised her eyebrow.

"Lots? You're not going to tell me what ? Maybe why you are red and yellow?" the little girl looked down at her hands and arms which were stained with faint splodges of colour.

"Tried to wash it off but it wont go away!" Ziva smiled down at her, ""We was doing paintings."

"Did you get any paint on the paper?" Zippy frowned at her and folded her arms,

"Yes! Made a lovely picture."

"What did you paint."

"A tree," she stood up on her tip toes and raised her arms high, "A big one!"

"Oh well, I bet that does look lovely." Ziva said earnestly causing the little girl to grin even more widely and nod before suddenly spinning round and running towards the kitchen.

"Zizi, I need a juice!" Ziva sighed and followed her, wondering what kid of giant tree was red and yellow. In the kitchen she found Leo sitting on the counter speaking on the phone.

"Yeah Angie, she just got home I will ask her." Ziva crossed the kitchen towards her and looked at her questioningly, wondering what she was about to be asked to do but Leo just shook her head and tried to wave Ziva away. In response Ziva took hold of Leo's knees and pulled them gently forcing her to hop off the counter.

"That's not a seat." she whispered sweetly at her, Leo rolled her eyes and went through to the living room to continue her phone call while Ziva pulled out a cup for Zippy.

Half an hour later Ziva was draining pasta when Leo sauntered back into the kitchen,

"Hi," she said and leant against the fridge casually.

"Hello, what are you going to ask me?"

"Well . . . After dinner is it ok if I go over to Angie's?" Ziva dropped the colander into the sink and headed over to check on the sauce.

"Why do you need to go over to Angie's? You spent all day at school with her and you're only just off the phone from her what can you possibly have to say to each other now?" She laughed as she stirred.

"I'm not going over to chat, I'm going over to practice on her piano!"

"I thought you were practicing at lunchtime and after school?" Ziva turned around and folded her arms.

"I am but the concert's in two days so every little bit helps!" Leo crossed the kitchen towards her, "You Don't want me to play badly do you? You always say I should practice my piano as often as possible don't you?" she wheedled gently. Ziva laughed and gently pushed past her to retrieve the pasta.

"Oh alright ok, of course you can go and practice."

"Thanks." Leo slipped behind her and rested her head on her shoulder, "One more thing, can I have a lift? Pleeeeeeeeease?"

They had barely cleared the plates off the table when Leo demanded that they leave.

"Come on, you said I could go after diner!" she said as she pulled on her jacket.

"Just wait a minute, I have something for you from Tony." Amazingly they had made it thus far into the evening without his name cropping up, it was probably the longest time Zippy had gone without asking about him and Ziva was reluctant to bring him up now and risk the usual onslaught of questions.

"Pickle?" Zippy's ears pricked up and she ran up behind Ziva as she reached into her rucksack to pull out his bag of presents. She hadn't even glanced inside it at work and now she did she could see a plastic wrapper tightly pressing down on some kind of princess costume, maybe he had gone to Disneyland after all. She pulled it out first and handed it down to Zippy who held it up and inspected it closely.

"Oooooooh, is Cinderella!" she squealed happily, "My favourite!" Ziva smiled as Zippy's face lit up and she started dancing around the room as though the dress was her waltzing partner, "Look Zizi, I'm the prince!" Leo and Ziva burst out laughing as Zippy continued to twirl around the room. After they had regained some composure Leo tried to peer inside the bag,

"So, what's in there for me?" Ziva stuck her hand in and pulled out a little jewellery box and handed it to her. Leo opened it to reveal a dainty pale pink pendent on a thin silver chain.

"Very nice, does it say what it is?" Ziva asked and Leo pulled out a small piece of card.

"It says it's agatised coral, the state stone of Florida." she read before putting the card down and pulling out her necklace. She held it up for Ziva to clip it around her neck. "So, Tony did not want to give us our presents himself?" she asked quietly while Ziva stood behind her.

"Well he probably wanted you to have them as soon as possible."

"He could have brought them over tonight." Ziva didn't reply for a few moments and instead stood quietly with her hands resting on Leo's shoulders.

"How about I ask him over for dinner this week, maybe even tomorrow night if he's free alright?" she suddenly broke the silence.

"Ok, that would be nice." Leo replied quietly before suddenly jumping to her feet. "Ok, seriously we need to go I said I'd be there for half seven!"

The next morning Ziva sat quietly at her desk and sipped on her coffee while she waited for Tony to arrive. McGee was hiding down in Abby's lab, trying to avoid the tension upstairs which left her free to think about what she would cook for Tony. She would promise something he loved as a peace offering, but what he seemed to like everything she made! Finally she heard his footsteps approaching so she placed her cup down and pushed her chair back.

"Good morning Tony."

"Morning." he mumbled and smiled at her uncomfortably before turning towards his desk. Ziva stood up and crossed the bull pen to stand in front of him, he looked up at her expectantly and waited for her to speak.

"Do you remember that concert that Leo's school is having, the spring time one?"

"Yeah, she's playing the piano?"

"Yes, it is on Thursday." she paused briefly and swallowed, she couldn't believe how nervous she was, "I have a ticket for you, if you want to come." she finished quickly and waited for his reply. His face cracked into a wide grin and he let out a long sigh of relief,

"That would be great, I'd love to come." they smiled at each other for a brief moment until Ziva caught sight of Gibbs approaching and hurried back to her own desk to look bu_sy._


	36. Chapter 36

By Thursday Tony and Ziva's working relationship had regained some semblance of normality. They had begun to tease each other gently, very gently, once more which lead to a considerable lightening of the atmosphere in the team. They had managed to avoid provoking any further heated arguments by simply trying to avoid the topic of the girls completely. Apart from Tony asking how they liked their presents and then his enquiries over how excited Leo was about her piano solo they were conspicuously absent from any conversation between the partners. Although this left a significant undercurrent of tension it also meant that they finally comfortable enough to go back into the field alone, without dragging McGee along as a buffer.

"Do you really think that he kept the one he used in here?" Ziva asked as she carefully stepped over a pile of scrap wood which lay on the floor of the musky outhouse she and Tony were searching for a saw used by a carpenter to cut off the hands of his three petty officer victims.

"Nope, doesn't look like he's been in here for a while." Tony replied as he surveyed their surroundings, the windows were coated in grime which left them in the semi darkness. He reached out to switch on the bare bulb dangling over head but the bulb was dead so he let his hand drop down to his side. "Do you think when Gibbs said to bring in every saw we could find he realised how many this guy actually has? It's gonna take Abby about three years to go through all these!"

"Well they will get processed much faster if you come over and start helping me collect them!" Tony turned his gaze away from the row of gruesome looking tools hanging against the wall and was surprised to see that Ziva had already made her way to the far side of the room. He took one look at the floor which was covered in piles of wood, tins and boxes and sighed.

"Actually Zee-vah I think that as Senior Field Agent I will supervise from over here."

"Yes, I am sure Gibbs will understand when it takes the rest of the day to get these to Abby." Ziva didn't even look back at him as she spoke, reaching out to pull open the a cupboard door instead. Tony sighed and began to follow the faint footsteps she had left in the dust and wood shavings on the ground.

"Well I guess I could lead by example." He reached out and pulled back the top of a box to peer inside. "There's more little ones in here, how many kinds of saws did this guy need?"

"He was a carpenter."

"Yeah but still, how many ways are there to cut a bit of wood?" He sighed and glanced round the room again, "We're gonna need a bigger boat." Ziva frowned and took a couple of steps towards him,

"Why would we need a boat? We came in the van."

"Ziva." Tony shook his head in disbelief, "You've lived here for five _years_ how do you not know this? I thought you said they had movie theatres in Israel."

"There are, but we don't need boats to get there." Ziva stared at him, even more confused than before.

"What?"

"I don't know, you brought up boats." Tony opened his mouth to reply but then just sighed and turned towards a battered wardrobe.

"Do you think he's got another 6000 stashed in here?" he reached out to open it while Ziva crouched down to pull out another box from under a work station. As he pulled on the door it knocked over a plank which had been leaning against the side op the cupboard. It sent the plank falling over to the side, hitting Ziva as it fell.

"Owwww!" Ziva gasped in pain and shoved the wood to the side.

"Ziva! You ok?" Tony was at her side in a flash.

"Yes, I am fine." she twisted her arm for a better look, "I think there was a nail sticking out." there was a tear in her jacket around which a deep crimson stain was seeping.

"Let me see, take off your jacket." Tony asked seriously, all hint of jokiness had disappeared from his voice. She shrugged her arm out gingerly and held it up, revealing a deep puncture in her skin. Tony sucked in a breath and bit his lip. "You have to go to hospital with this."

"What? It is just a scratch! I am fine."

"This is not just a scratch, it's really deep you might stitches."

"Well I am sure that Ducky will do them when we get back, if he thinks I need them."

"No, you might need a tetanus shot, even I can see there's rust in there." he squinted at her wound, examining it carefully.

"Ok, I will ask Ducky to clean it out and then after Leo's concert I will go to the hospital and get the shot."

"No, if you go now you will probably be done in time to get to the concert, you have a few hours."

"Tony . . ." Ziva started to complain but he was having none of it.

"Ziva, you need to go, I'm not going to back down." he looked her straight in the eye as she spoke and then continued to hold her gaze until she finally relented.

"Alright, I will go to the hospital." she sighed and slipped her arm out of his hand. "Will you be able to pick up Zippy from nursery?"

"Yeah sure."

"The tickets are in the top right drawer of my desk and there is a video camera there too, I told her grandparents I would film it form them so could you take that too?"

"Tickets, video camera, Zippy" he listed the things he had to pick up. "Got it."

"It starts at half past seven, Leo's on in the first half so I was planning on leaving at the intermission, it will be too late for Zippy to sit through the whole thing but she wants to see her sister play."

"Ok, we'll meet you there?"

"Thank you Tony."

"No problem." he smiled at her and held out his hand to help her pick her way back across the room.

Tony had managed to slip out of work a bit earlier than usual, they had there man so the main part of their investigation was over so he was strolling into the nursery just before half past five. He entered Zippy's room and found that he was interrupting story time so he stood quietly and waited for the nursery nurse to finish her page. The children were all sat in front of her, staring intently at the book she held in her hands as she read.

"oh boys and girls." she said as she turned the book away from them. "I think this book is a bit scary for me."

"NO!" they all called out in disagreement.

"Really? But there are lots of big bears!" she feigned surprise, "You all must be very brave!" the kids all nodded smugly and claimed to be very brave, "But I think that maybe on the next page there might be an even **BIGGER** bear, that would be scary. Do you think that's what's going to happen?"

"YES!"

"Well we'll see, but Zippy?" Zippy perked up in her spot in the middle of the group of children.

"uh huh?"

"I think that you will have to find out tomorrow because someone is here for you." The little girl's head turned towards the door and when she caught sight of Tony leaning against it her face lit up with a glorious smile.

"PICKLE!" she squealed and sprung to her feet before leaping over the legs of her friends and running towards him. He bent down and scooped her up into his arms, hugging her closely.

"Hi Zippy." she clung on to him tightly,

"Pickle, Pickle, Pickle, missed Pickle." she sighed deeply and leant her head against his shoulder for a few seconds before suddenly jerking it back up, "Leo's concert today, she plays 'ano"

"Yeah I know we're going to it."

"You too?"

"Me too." she grinned at him happily and then started squeezing him with her legs as though he were a horse.

"Les go, les go."

"Wait a minute, you need to put on outside shoes first and where's your jacket."

"Oooopsie." Zippy sighed as he placed her on the ground. She ran over to her peg and kicked off her plimsolls and picked up her sandals and took them over for Tony to put on.

"Ok, all set?" Tony asked as he straightened up and took her hand.

"Yep." she said happily and they started to head out..

"Zippy!" another of her nursery nurses called after her, "Don't you have a picture to take home?"

"Ooooooh! Yes have present for Pickle." she scampered over to her tray and pulled out a sheet of paper and ran pack to him holding it up in the air like a flag as she went. "Is we swimming." she said proudly as he took it from her. The page was mostly taken up with a big blue dollop of colour out of which stuck three figures, one with a bug mess of black fair sticking out of their head and next to her was a pink sausage with arms and a smiley face. The sausage seemed to be holding up a small purple splodge, also with lots of dark hair flowing from it, he smiled and looked down at the little girl as they walked out.

"Wow Zippy, it's perfect."

A few hours later Tony and Zippy were taking their seats when his phone began to ring. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, hoping he wasn't going to get dragged back into work.

"DiNozzo,"

"Tony!"

"Oh hey Ziva, are you here? We're sitting three rows from the front . . ."

"No, I am not there, I am still at the hospital."

"What?"

"I had to wait two hours to get my arm stitched up by a doctor but then he got called away for and emergency so I had to wait for a nurse to come and give the injection. I only needed three stitches, do you know how long it takes to do three stitches? About two minutes, I waited hours for two minutes work! It is just sewing I could have done it myself" she fumed before she paused and sighed deeply before continuing, "And now I will never make in it time to see Leo play her piece," her voice wavered slightly as she finished, showing she was distressed at the prospect of missing Leo's big night.

"Well, it's ok I'll be filming it anyway, you can see it when we get back you won't miss it all together." he tried to comfort her but his words were met with silence. "Ziva?"

"Do you think she will be angry that I am not there?"

"No! She might be disappointed but you couldn't help it. You had to go to hospital, it wasn't a choice, she'll understand. Besides, she'd probably be more annoyed if you ended up dying of lock jaw because you were to stubborn to go to hospital!" Ziva chuckled quietly.

"I suppose you are right." she took in a deep breath, "And thank you for everything today Tony, it is good to know that there is someone there to watch her perform." she said quickly and quietly.

"Hey no problem I'm glad to be here and anyway, I owe you considering I took you out with that rusty nail!"

"Well that is true!" she laughed, "I will see you later, I will order in dinner so it is here for you all when you get in."

"ok great, see you soon." he hung up and turned his phone onto silent before turning to glance down at Zippy who was roughly swinging her legs back and fore. While he waited for the show to start he watched as the little girl fidgeted and chatted happily to him, to those sitting around them and even to herself and decided that he was not looking forward to trying to keep her quiet during the other performances.


	37. Chapter 37

Despite his reservations Zippy actually behaved beautifully during the first fifteen minutes of the show. She may not have exactly paid attention to the acts but at least she was lolling quietly on his knee, occasionally quietly asking when Leo was coming on. Just before Leo was due to come out Tony moved Zippy back onto her own seat, pulled out the video camera and started to set it up. He double checked it was working properly, he didn't fancy his chances against Ziva of he went home without the video. Zippy was squirming excitedly next to him as she waited for her sister to come onto the stage. A piano was pushed onto the stage from the wings before Leo finally emerged clutching her music and began to walk towards her stool, scanning the audience for a familiar face.

"Leo, Leo Hiiiii!" before Tony could stop her Zippy had leapt onto her feet on was standing on her chair waving wildly at her big sister. Leo smiled in return while the audience around her chuckled. Leo's eyes moved along to Tony and when she saw him there she grinned widely at him until she noticed that Ziva wasn't there. She frowned slightly and searched through the rest of the audience as she sat down, she swallowed nervously and then turned to face the piano. She glanced one last time at Tony, he smiled encouragingly and held up the camera higher to get a better view. Leo sighed and closed her eyes briefly before she began to play. Tony had no idea what piece it was but it sounded beautiful, the dainty notes rang cheerfully through the room fitting in perfectly with the Spring theme. He watched her proudly as she played to the end of her piece. She finished with a flourish and stood up while the audience broke into a applause. Zippy jumped back onto her feet and clapped vigorously and shouted happily to Leo on the stage, Leo grinned and waved at them before turning and walking off the stage. Zippy kept clapping until Tony put down the camera and gently took her hands in his.

"Alright that's enough clapping." Zippy nodded disappointedly and started to sit back down onto her chair. She accidentally bumped against her neighbour who turned round,

"Ooooops sorry!" Zippy said as she thumped onto the seat. "Thas my sister, she very good 'ano playing!" she announced causing the other woman to laugh and agree heartily.

Once the curtain closed for the interval Tony and Zippy weaved their way through the audience and outside to meet Leo who was already waiting for them with a look of concern etched across her face.

"Hey! You were great! I got it all on . . ."

"Where is Ziva?" Leo interrupted him impatiently.

"Well, at work today she had a little accident and she had to go to the hospital. . ."

"What? Is she hurt? What happened?"

"It's ok she's fine, she just got a little scratched up and had to go and get a few stitches. She should be home by now, she said she'd have dinner there for us when we got back." He placed a hand on her shoulder and began to gently guide her towards the car while Zippy ran round to Leo's other side and grabbed her hand.

"Hello?" Leo called as she opened the door of Ziva's flat.

"Leo! How did it go?" Ziva jumped up off of the sofa bed and hurried across to greet them. She had changed out of her bloody clothes and was already wearing her pyjama shorts and a baggy t-shirt.

"It went well, what happened to your arm? Are you ok? Let me see." Leo demanded but Ziva just tutted and dismissed her concerns with a wave of her hand.

"I am fine it is just a scratch," she briefly lifted up her arm to show the small bandage protecting her stitches. "Did you get it filmed? Put it on let me see!" she turned her attention to Tony and grabbed the video camera from his hand. "There's pizza on the sofa bed, I pulled it out so that there's room for us all to sit down." she called over her shoulder as she headed towards her laptop. She picked it up and joined them on the bed as she set it up to watch the video.

"Leo best 'ano player." Zippy announced and crawled to sit next to Ziva just as Leo appeared on the screen.

"I am sure that she is." Ziva smiled back just as the first notes flowed from the speakers. She watched intently, a proud grin stretched across her face, "Oh wow, that was the really hard bit and you played it perfectly." she exclaimed and reached out to squeeze Leo's arm and the girl shrugged and laughed,

"Well you made me practice it a lot!" Ziva didn't respond but kept her eyes glued to the screen until after Leo had bowed and disappeared from the stage.

"That was completely perfect Leo." she shut the computer and moved it off the bed before impulsively giving Leo a quick hug. "You did so well!" Leo just smiled while Ziva reached over and pulled out a slice of pizza for herself, wincing slightly as she leant back against the cushions.

"How's your arm?" Tony asked, noticing her pain.

"My wound is fine, where they injected me is much more painful." she complained, "Look, it is all red and swollen!" she held up arm to show him the angry scarlet lump. Tony screwed up his face,

"Ouch, still better than lock jaw!" he said and took a bite of his slice while Zippy scrambled across the bed and up onto his knee, settling against his chest. They spent the next half an hour finishing the pizza and chatting contentedly, it was almost as though the past few weeks of tension had never happened. Zippy's eyes were slowly drifting shirt as she lay sprawled across Tony's chest.

"Zippy, I think it is time for bed." Ziva said softly and reached out to stroke her arm gently.

"No, No not sleepy!" the little girl jerked her head up and opened her eyes wide, trying to prove that she was not at all tired. Ziva shook her head slowly and slid off the of the bed.

"_Come on honey, it's already very late let's go."_ she tried to coax the little girl off of Tony's lap but she just shook her head again and sank further against his chest.

"No, not going!" she set her chin in determination and folded her arms tightly. Ziva stood and waited until Zippy's eyes began to droop again before she leant forwards wrapped her hands around the girl's waist.

"Say night night to Pickle." she whispered as she slowly pulled her to her feet.

"Night night." Zippy whimpered, her voice dulled with tiredness.

"Night Zippy." Tony lent in and kissed her forehead softly before Ziva finally picked her up and began carrying her to her room leaving Tony and Leo alone. They sat in silence for a few seconds until Leo pulled her legs up under her chin and suddenly asked,

"So, are you talking to Ziva again?" Tony frowned at her and cleared his throat nervously.

"I was never not talking to Ziva, exactly."

"You were just disappearing without saying anything to us?" her intense stare was fixed on him as she waited for a reply.

"Ok," he paused and licked hiss lips and dropped his eyes to his knees, "I'll admit that vanishing off on holiday wasn't the best idea but I'm back now." he said firmly and then looked back up at her, she had turned her head to the side as she considered his words. After a brief pause she smiled at him.

"Good." she shuffled across the bed and sat next to him so that she was facing the TV which she then turned on with the remote. "My programme is on." she said simply and settled down to watch her favourite show. Shortly afterwards Ziva returned, closing the bedroom door quietly behind her and smiling when she saw the two of them lying comfortably on the sofa. She glanced at the TV and sighed.

"This again?"

"Come on Zi, I know you love it really." Leo grinned at her, "It is a good episode, everyone has found out about the affair."

"Really? How?" Ziva gasped and quickly joined them on the sofa while Leo laughed.

"See I knew deep down you liked this programme!" Ziva slapped her playfully,

"Sshhhh!"

"Too late Zee-vah, I heard that. Never had you down as a teen-angst fan!" Tony chuckled and glanced across at her, catching a glimpse of a faint blush across her cheeks.

"Well if it is on I cannot really help but watch it." She retorted before settling down in the cushions. "So, how did they find out about them?"

Forty minutes later the programme had ended and the credits were scrolling across the screen. Leo let out a slow whistle.

"WOW, I did not think she would really kill him over that."

"I know! And now that he is dead she will never be able to find out where he is keeping the stash of money his dad left him before he ran from the IRS!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. What do you think she'll do with the baby now that she cannot trick him into marrying her?

"I am not sure, I think she might try and target the brother because she does not know that he has lost all his money gambling." Ziva said solemnly while Tony watched them both incredulously.

"That was the most ridiculous programme I have ever watched, and I have seen one Tree Hill AND the O.C!"

"just watch another couple of episodes and you will be hooked." Leo said confidently before a large yawn escaped her mouth. She stretched and sighed, I think that I will go to bed now. I could not sleep last night, I was too nervous."

"Well from where I was sitting you didn't have anything to be nervous of." Tony slapped her shoulder playfully and she smiled at him gratefully.

"Thanks." she climbed over Ziva and out of the bed.

"Night then."

"Night." Ziva said before suddenly reaching out and grabbing her hand. "You played beautifully today, you should be very proud of yourself. I am." she squeezed Leo's fingers gently before dropping her hand back onto her knee. Leo smiled and nodded wordlessly before turning and quickly disappearing into her bedroom.

"That was a bit . . . strange." Tony observed once she had shut the door.

"Hannah taught her to play the piano." Ziva explained simply, "I suppose playing again brought back a lot of memories.

"Yeah, that's why I stopped playing after my mom . . ." Tony's voice petered out and he sighed deeply, embarrassed that he had just blurted that out but he recovered by making a joke. "But at least I managed to get rid of the sailor suits!"

"I don't know, I think you would have looked very sweet in a sailor's suit." Ziva smiled at him and pulled herself up into a more upright position. They lapsed into silence for a few moments until Tony enquired about her time in the hospital.

"You must have been really bored, you were there for hours." he said sympathetically, "I didn't think it would take that long."

"It was alright I had plenty to do. My real estate agent called to say the flat I put an offer on has been taken off the market, they have changed their mind about moving. I spent most of the time organising other viewings so it was actually quite stressful."

"Wow, rusty nail and no flat- bad day for you!" Tony chuckled and Ziva smiled weakly.

"Well it was certainly not one of my best."

"Look on the bright side, maybe you'll find something better now."

"Well I did not really like that flat anyway it does not set a high benchmark." They sat and discussed the details of the various viewings Ziva had lined up and their other plans for the weekend. Zippy had a birthday party for Zach, one of her little friends from nursery, and Ziva was unsure of the etiquette for children's parties. "They are having a barbeque outside so does that mean I have to bring something, like a salad or something to drink or can I just drop Zippy off with the present?" Tony looked at her,

"I could be wrong but I doubt little Zach will be impressed if Zippy turns up at his birthday with a _salad." _

" I didn't mean just a salad, thee present too." she laughed and gently smacked Tony with a cushion she was holding on her lap. They fell quiet for a few moments until Ziva dropped her cushion in-between them and rolled off the bed. "I am going to the bathroom." He watched as she strolled towards the toilet and then stood up himself and collected up the pizza boxes and carried them into the kitchen. He stood and began folding them up to shove into the bin and then pulled himself a beer out of the fridge. He sipped on it slowly and stared out the window. After another couple of minutes he began to wonder what was taking Ziva so long so he turned round to see what was keeping her only to find her hovering by the fridge.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked, taking in the strange expression on her face.

"Yes, I am fine. I went in and checked on the girls, they are both sleeping." the words sped off her tongue before her lips clamped shut again and she shifted from foot to foot.

"Are you sure you're ok?" she nodded sharply but began to rub her palms together nervously.

"Tony, there is something I would like to say to you."

"Okaaaay." he said hesitantly and put his beer down on the counter. "What is it?"

"Well, I . . . I know that the past couple of weeks have not been easy and I know that I played a big part in that."

"But I . . ." Tony tried to interject but she raised her hand to silence him and continued.

"And you also did not make the best decisions but the point is that you were upset about being split up from the girls." she paused and took a long breathe. "And that shows just how much you care for them so I would just like to say thank you for everything that you have done for them and for me. You are a very important part of our lives and I am sorry if I made you feel otherwise." her voice wavered as she waved her hands around ass she spoke, nervously gesturing around the room. Her eyes had been focused on the floor throughout her speech but now she finally met his gaze, "And I would like to tell you that I . . . you should know that . . ." she stuttered and breathed in deeply, " I . . ." she started again but instead of trying to formulate a sentence she just lunged forwards, flung her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. For a brief terrifying moment she hung their in suspended animation while he processed what was happening but then he snapped into action and wrapped his own arms around her waist, pulling her tightly against him as he began to return her kiss. She moved her lips desperately against his, her fingers were buried deep inside his hair as she kept his head in place. After denying herself for so long she threw herself into him, passionately devouring his lips with her kiss. She did not let up or slow down, fearing that if he had a chance to think he would push her away the way she had done to him. However hard she tried though, they had to pause eventually so she gently pulled her lips away to gulp in some much needed air but kept her forehead pressed against his. He kept a tight hold on her, ensuring that her body did not slip even an inch away from his for he was just as worried that she may suddenly reject him again. She ran a hand down from his hair and onto his cheek, using her thumb to gently stroke his skin, their faces stood millimetres apart as they tried to gasp in air but they were too impatient to wait for a normal breathing so after a fleeting break they returned to their kiss. Their lips moved just as desperately as before but now their hands began to join them. Tony slid his fingers across her back, dragging along the fabric of her t-shirt until they reached the hem. He slid them under and felt her shiver in his arms as they made contact with her bare skin. Ziva's hands were cupped around his cheeks, holding him close initially, but soon she began to use them to guide him through the flat. She took a few steps backwards towards the living room and led him with her. Their tongues slid roughly over each other as they fought for dominance, each seeking to lead the kiss. Ziva moaned softly as he dug his fingers into the firm flesh of her back causing pleasant vibrations to travel through his mouth. He suddenly removed his finger tips and instead wrapped his whole arms around her again so that her full body was pulled flush against him. They remained in this position as they staggered back a few more steps until Ziva suddenly spun around and pushed him away. A cold panic rushed through him as he fell away from her arms but when he lands on the bed and looked up to see the look in Ziva's eyes all fear that she was about to reject him disappeared. She stood in front of him panting heavily, her face hungry and excited as she eyed him up carefully. She took a couple of steps towards him until she was straddling one of his knees. He looked up at her and reached out to run his hands up each of her thighs,

"Ziva." he gasped but instead of replying she shoved him onto his back and climbed on top of him. He felt her knees on each side of his hips as she leant forward to kiss him once more. Tony gripped her thighs again, squeezing them tightly as her tongue danced with his. She began to move away from his mouth, kissing his chin and then moving onto his neck to leave a blazing trail down to his shirt collar. She sat up slightly and began tugging at his tie. He looked up at her as she did so, her eyes were dark and passionate, just watching her lie this was enough to set his heart rate racing. She finally managed to pull his tie off so she started unbuttoning his shirt, covering each piece of new skin with hot, wet kisses. Her hair followed after her lips, tickling his skin as she moved down towards hiss trousers. He moved his fingers up to run them through her hair and stroke her head as she moved down his body. He felt her start to undo his belt but before she had a chance to go an further he suddenly sat up, pulling her with him. She squealed in surprise and ended up straddling his lap. He ran his hands up and down her sides, grinning appreciatively at her as he did so.

"Ziva." he groaned again and suddenly lunged forward, burying his face in her chest. He nuzzled one of her breasts with his cheek before turning to take it in his mouth. He sucked it roughly through the fabric causing her moan and squirm in his arms. Ziva's hands gripped his shoulders tightly, digging into his muscles.

"Tony," she sighed as her head fell back while she enjoyed the feeling of his tongue teasing her through her t-shirt. Tony was just about to reach down and pull her top right off when she suddenly pulled away from him and slithered off his lap and landed in-between his knees. She flashed him a sultry smile and went back to undoing his belt. Tony's mouth went fry as she began to undo his fly, imagining what she would do next. She reached up and grabbed hold of his trousers, ready to pull them off.

"Zizi!" a little voice called out from the bedroom. Ziva sighed and dropped her head onto Tony's knee. They waited silently for a few seconds, "ZIZI!" a more desperate cry reached their ears this time so Ziva lifted her head . "I will be back in a minute" she said and smiled at him almost shyly. She began to stand up but before she did she clamped her hands tightly around his trousers and firmly tugged them. The force sent him flying onto his back which allowed her to drag them down to his ankles. "Wait here." she jumped her feet and scurried of into the bedroom leaving a dazed Tony staring at the roof.

He lay there for a few seconds, trying to work out how they had finally made it to this point. Eventually he sat up and kicked off his shoes and socks before standing up and stepping out of his trousers. He picked them up and slung them across the back of the sofa. He stared down at the bed, what should he do? Should he get in under the covers or was that to cosy? Would lying on top of the covers be a bit too . . . "I've been expecting you,"? he decided to slip inside the duvet to wait for her to get back. Tony lay there for a few minutes, thinking of all the dirty things he had ever imagined doing with Ziva. There was a lot of them and tonight just may be his chance to try some! He heard the door creak open and saw Ziva emerge . . . Carrying Zippy. His heart sank, maybe tonight wasn't the night after all.

"I hope that you are wearing boxers under there." Ziva smiled as she approached and he nodded dumbly. Zippy turned her head to see who Ziva was talking to.

"Pickle!" she squealed and tried to spin round but Ziva held her tightly until they reached the bed when she let the little girl down on top of Tony's chest. Zippy slipped her legs under the blanket and sighed happily as she lay sprawled across him.

"Bad dream?" Tony asked her as he wrapped his arms around her. Zippy nodded gently and he turned to Ziva who was still standing, she had her arms crossed and a serious expression on her face.

"Did you let her watch Peter Pan?" she asked sternly.

"Well . . . Kind of it was on in the background earlier, I didn't think she was really watching it!"

"Well she was and now she is convinced that the crocodile is hiding under her bed, waiting to eat her."

"What?" He snorted and Zippy propped herself up a bit.

"Can hear him, tick tock tick tock" she said seriously, "He hungry for me!" Ziva smiled and slid into bed next to them.

"_He doesn't want to eat you, if he were going to eat anyone it would be Tony. _There's so much more of him!" She reached out and pinched an inch on Tony's arm and Zippy giggled.

"Owww!" what was that for?"

"Nothing!" she replied innocently he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.

"I can't believe this, it was a Disney film, how could it be giving her nightmares?"

"There are many parts of Disney films which are scary for very young children."

"What?"

"The queens in sleeping beauty and snow white or the big octopus thing in the Little Mermaid. You must have been a little bit scared of them some time."

"Well, the pink elephants in Dumbo are a bit creepy." He shivered while Ziva laughed.

"Of all the films the cuddly pink elephants are the scariest thing you can think of?"

"Hey! It's a lot more scary than the crocodile!"

"Well not for Zippy."

"It is not my fault that she's a bit woosy."

"Tony! She is not." Ziva leaned forward and stroked Zippy's back. "She is just a little bit scared." she added kissing the little girl's head before she stretched up and whispered in his ear. "You are just frustrated because you are thinking about what you could be doing right now if you hadn't watched that film this afternoon." she finished by closing her teeth around his earlobe and dragged them gently down it.

"Oh god! That's just cruel." Tony groaned causing her to giggle slightly. She lay down at his side and he took his right arm off of Zippy and wrapped it around Ziva's shoulders and held her tight. Ziva lifted her hand up and began to stroke Zippy's hair as the little girls eyes slowly drifted shut. Tony squeezed them both gently and sighed, "Still there are worse ways to spend the night."

"You are happy then?" She asked, almost nervously as she looked up at him. He turned around to meet her gaze and grinned.

"Oh I'm happy!" She leant forwards and kissed him softly before slipping back down and snuggling her head against his shoulder.


	38. Chapter 38

When she woke up the next morning Ziva's eyes opened lazily as she sighed contentedly before rolling over onto her side. She looked across at Tony and smiled he was still sleeping so she watched him for a while and admired the way the his hair was glistening in the early morning sun. She wasn't sure how much time had passed but eventually his own eyes flickered open to find her staring at him.

"Morning," he smiled and leant across to kiss her gently.

"Good morning." she mumbled against his lips as his hand reached over to cup her face and pull it close to his. They continued to kiss lazily, their bodies slowly shifting closer together as her hand slid over his side and slipped up his back until it was hooked around his shoulder.

"Hmmmph!" They heard an indignant grunt and felt Zippy wriggling between them. They looked down to see her sitting up between them, glaring at them in annoyance. "Squashed!"

"Sorry honey." Ziva reached down and stroked the little girl's face. She grumbled unintelligibly and began crawling up the bed until she reached the top of the bed and snuggled down between them.

"Is ok." she sighed grumpily.

"Oh I think someone is grumpy this morning," Tony laughed and tapped Zippy's tummy.

"No!"

"I think that you are right Tony, I think someone is very, very grumpy morning." Ziva replied seriously, ignoring Zippy's protest.

"Well there's only one cure for that."

"You are right." they stared solemnly for a couple of seconds before they suddenly sprung into action and started tickling the little girl mercilessly. Zippy squealed and squirmed as their fingers brushed up and down her side.

"Not grumpy!" she shouted with difficulty through her uncontrollable laughter. Tony and Ziva laughed as she wriggled and giggled between them,

"Are you sure, no more grumps?"

"Uh huh!" Zippy wheezed so they stopped, the little girl gulped in air and lay sprawled on her back with Ziva's hand still resting on her tummy.

"Good." Ziva leant down and kissed her head, "What would you like for breakfast?" Zippy sucked her lip thoughtfully for a minute before she turned her head and grinned widely at Tony.

"Pakes!" she shouted excitedly. Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Should have guessed." he propped himself up onto his elbow, "Sure you don't want hoops?"

"No, pakes!" Zippy pouted as Ziva wrapped her arm around the little girl's stomach and pulled her back against her chest.

"Come on Tony, make us some pakes." They both looked pleadingly at him.

"Oh ok," he rolled off the bed and grabbed his shirt, "How could I saw no to those faces?" he asked rhetorically as he thrust his arms into the sleeves and disappeared into the kitchen.

Tony began to pull out the utensils he needed and smiled when he heard cartoons start blaring from the living room. He started humming happily as he cracked the eggs, something about today felt special. It was a bright new day, the start of a whole new chapter in his life, the beginning of a new era. It was a fundamental change, Ziva wanted him too, she wanted him in her life. His life as he knew it was over, he could feel it. He was whipping the batter, energised by his excitement, when he suddenly felt Ziva's hands snake their way around his waist. She started kissing his neck, moving her lips along the top of his collar. He but down the fork and started slowly spinning around until he was facing her. Ziva smiled up at him as her raised his hands to her cheeks and pulled her up to meet his lips. She moaned softly and gently prised his lips open with her tongue and slipping it into his mouth. Her head tilted to the side and her own hands slipped up his chest until they reached his neck, her fingers gently brushing against his skin as she deepened their kiss. Tony smiled against her and began sliding his hands down her body, running them down her sides and round to the small of her back when he suddenly pulled tight, forcing her up onto her tip toes so that her face was level with his. She grunted in surprise and momentarily broke their kiss before laughing and wrapping her arms around his neck and burying one hand in his hair. She returned to his lips, their kiss even more passionate than before. Tony groaned and slid his fingers even lower, shoving them under the waist band of her shorts and squeezed her bottom firmly.

"Tony!" she gasped against him and he laughed softly before lunging forward to catch her bottom lip between his own and sucking it gently. She tugged a tuft of his hair roughly in retaliation and sighed deeply as his lips caressed her gently.

"WOAH!" they sprung apart suddenly at the sound of Leo's shocked exclamation and found her staring at them. They stood in silence for a few seconds until Tony cleared his throat and nervously asked;

"So, pancakes for breakfast?" Leo glared at him,

"Pancakes for breakfast?" she repeated incredulously, "What are you doing? When did you start," she brandished her hands at them, "Doing this?" They both avoided meeting her eyes, shifting uncomfortably like a couple of guilty teenagers.

"Leo . . ." Ziva started but was quickly interrupted,

"I cannot believe this! Why did you not say anything? I thought that you were fighting? This is . . . This is . . ." she sighed and ran her fingers through her dishevelled bed head. "It is early for this . . ." Ziva smiled and walked towards her, gingerly placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Leo, Tony needs to finish breakfast. Let's go through and talk about this." she pushed the girl gently until she obliged and turned towards the living room.

"Ok." she agreed and took a couple of steps before she paused and glanced over her shoulder. "You better wash those hands, I do not want Ziva's butt pancakes!" Tony laughed and headed towards the sink,

"Ok, ok I'm doing it!" Leo smiled and followed Ziva out of the kitchen.

By the time Tony emerged with plates of pancakes Leo seemed to have gotten over her initial shock and was sitting at the table with Zippy and Ziva.

"Here we go, the best pancakes in the city, maybe even the country!" he announced as he placed down plates in front of the girls.

"Even if you do say so yourself?" Leo grinned and picked up her fork.

"Hey if you don't want them I got plenty of room for a few extras!" He replied, pretending to pull the dish away.

"oh no, I never said I did not want them. Anyway, I need to judge whether they are actually the best in the city!" Leo held her plate tightly until he flopped down into his own seat. They chatted happily as they ate their breakfast and once they had finished Tony pushed his plate away and leant back,

"Definitely the best pancakes."

"They are quite nice." Leo nodded and wiped some maple syrup off of her chin.

"Ha! Just quite nice? Delicious is the word I'd use." Tony protested and turned to Zippy. "What do you think Zippy, did you like your pancakes?" The little girl looked up at him and grinned, her face slathered in in syrup.

"Yummy!"

"See, Zippy loves them." he said smugly and stood up suddenly.

"What are you doing?" Ziva looked up at him as he grabbed his trousers and shoved his legs into them.

"I need to go and get ready for work. Can't go in wearing the same clothes Zee-vah, that would be like doing the walk of shame." he sat down and pulled on his socks and shoes.

"Oh ok." Ziva picked up her fork again and began to finish off her last pancake.

"Right I'll see you at work ok?" he pulled on his jacket and walked over to the table bent down, she smiled and leant back to kiss him.

"See you later."

"Me too, me too!" Zippy demanded as he straightened up. He laughed and leant over to kiss her forehead,

"Right ladies I'll see you later." he called as he left.

"Bye!" they replied as he closed the door. Ziva smiled coyly and returned her attention to her pancake.

"Ziva and Tony up a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Leo burst into song as Ziva blushed.

"I-N-G!" Zippy added on at the end as she giggled.

A couple of hours later Tony strolled into the bullpen whistling happily.

"Goooooood Morning Probie." he greeted him as he dropped his backpack onto the floor and sauntered up to his collegue.

"Morning Tony." He replied and eyed him up suspiciously. "Did you have a good night?"

"McGee, I had a fantastic night."

"Soooooo . . . Leo's show was good then?"

"Leo was . . . Amazing. Best in the show by far, I didn't realise how talented she is! She blew all those other kids out of the water." he boasted proudly as he leant against McGee's desk.

"So you and Ziva made up then?"

"Oh yeah, me and Ziva made up." Tony replied and stared wistfully before suddenly coming to his senses. "I mean, we didn't make up." he stuttered nervously. "I mean, we never fell out. Everything was fine." McGee snorted incredulously.

"Oh yeah right! You too could barely stand to be in the same room last week and now you're trying to tell me that nothing was wrong?"

"Uh yeah . . .nothing happened." McGee shook his head and leant back in his seat. He was about to open his mouth to argue when they heard the lift beep. Tony leapt to his feet and watched as Ziva strolled towards them. McGee shook his head as he saw the way Tony's eyes followed her through the room.

"Good morning." she greeted them and flashed a sly smile at Tony.

"Morning." they both replied as Tony stood up and strolled over to her desk.

"Well, how are you this morning Zee-vah?"

"I am very, very well this morning." she replied while he grinned cheesily down at her. "And you seem to be particularly pleased with yourself this morning."

"Well, I had a great night last night." Ziva smirked slightly and turned to her computer screen.

"Good for you, it couldn't have been as good as mine though. I spent it with an amazing woman. I've never met anyone like her."

"This sounds familiar, I am sure that in two weeks you will have moved on to the next amazing woman."

"Oh not this time, this time it's different. You should meet her, she's everything I could want; beautiful, strong, funny, beautiful, kind, smart beautiful." Ziva raised her eyebrow at hom.

"You said beautiful three times, still the most important thing for you? That shows that you are still as shallow and childish as ever." she grinned up at him.

"She would never say that. She knows I'm deep and mature, a new man."

"Ha!" she scoffed and fixed her deep brown eyes on his, "Well, maybe you are right Tony. Maybe she can see that." They continued to chat while McGee observed them silently from his desk. He sighed, yet again he was unable to decipher the nature of their relationship. There had been times when he was one hundred percent sure that they were sleeping together, then others when he was positive they hated each other. Now he was flummoxed, part of him was convinced that they were definitely . . . involved and yet he still could not be sure. He stood up and left the bullpen unnoticed, he should see what Abby thought.


	39. Chapter 39

"The condition of his body disguises the brutality this man suffered." Ducky announced and looked up at McGee. The corpse on his table was almost skeletal, a thin layer of flesh hung gruesomely from its bones while its black eye sockets glared at the ceiling. "These x-rays show the extent of his injuries," Ducky led McGee to his light board, "Here see, his jaw is broken, as well as most of his remaining fingers. Both thumbs were sliced clean off." McGee winced slightly and Ducky glanced at him briefly before continuing. "However, perhaps the most painful injuries are on the soles of his feet." He pointed up at one of the films, "There are numerous fractures which indicate foot beating, presumably his killer used a pipe or a plank of wood to inflict the most pain possible."

"So, he was tortured then?"

"Well foot beating has traditionally been used as a method of torture for centuries. It is highly effective as the foot contains a cluster of nerve endings which renders it an extremely cruel practise, the damage it causes to the tendons and bones of the foot means that recovery is a long and arduous process." Ducky paused and turned to McGee, "It was used throughout the Ottoman Empire you know as punishment for various wrongs, one famous example was that of Osman Hatun who was caught . . ." He was interrupted by the doors swinging open which prevented him from straying off onto an interesting but irrelevant tangent. Tony entered the room whistling cheerfully,

"Hey, I got the dental records for our missing soldier for you to check against our friend there." he brandished the folder he was carrying in the direction of the decomposing body before passing it to Ducky.

"Ducky says that he was tortured pretty badly, all his fingers are broken and his feet have been badly whipped." McGee told Tony with a grave expression.

"Well then we better catch the guy then, first step identifying the body and my spidey senses are telling me that this we have finally found our Corporal Smith and if it is him then we can assume that he fell out with his terrorist friends. Maybe he decided he demanded too much money for his services or maybe he just ran out of information. Either way I think this will be a fairly straight forward case." McGee stared at him incredulously and replied;

"I don't think I've ever heard "terrorist" and "straight forward case" in the same breath before."

"Trust me McGee, it's going to be fine stop being so pessimistic. Nothing can get me down today!" he declared and strolled towards the body.

"I think I liked you better when you were angry and depressed. When you're happy you're . . . too happy." McGee frowned at him as Tony examined the head.

"You do seem to be in a particularly buoyant mood this morning." Ducky observed thoughtfully.

"Well I had a particularly excellent night." Tony grinned at him.

"Ah I see! Perhaps with . . ."

"Another new woman." McGee interjected flatly, Ducky frowned at him in surprise.

"A _new_ woman. Oh I see . . . Well the first flush of love is a feeling unmatched by any earthly force." he finished poetically and started pulling out the x-rays from the dental file. Ducky had just stuck them onto the board when the doors slid open once again and this time Ziva entered looking harassed and worried.

"Tony, we have to go Smith's girlfriend just called in to say that there is a new message from him on her answer machine. Gibbs wants us to check it out."

"Seriously?" she nodded and McGee chuckled.

"Looks like your spidey senses were wrong then." he said smugly, smirking at Tony while Ziva frowned in confusion.

"Spidey senses?" she asked but her question went unanswered as Tony straightened up and joined her at the door, glaring at McGee as he did so.

"This doesn't mean I'm wrong about the body probie, you'll see!" he called as he followed Ziva out of the room.

What was all that about?" she asked as they waited for the lift.

"Nothing, McGee was just being his usual pessimistic self."

"Oh I see. Nothing to do with you being wrong about something?" she teased as the doors opened and they stepped inside.

"Pfffff of course not." he scoffed and pressed for their floor. The doors began to close and he impulsively reached out and grabbed her, spinning her around to face him. He pressed a kiss against her lips, squeezing her tightly as he did so. Ziva laughed and relaxed against his body. "I love that I'm allowed to do that now." he mumbled against her lips as they drew gently apart. Ziva chuckled and stepped back just in time as they reached their floor.

Despite the complications emerging in their case Tony remained upbeat and cheerful all day. However as the hours past he began to notice that Ziva's mood had begun to sour. HE noticed her frowning at her computer screen and checking her watch repeatedly and occasionally picking up her phone before slamming it down with increasing frustration a few moments later. He tried to catch her attention to ask what was wrong but she was to distracted and busy until finally they were left alone in the bullpen. He stood up, sidled over and sat on her desk.

"What's wrong Ziva? You seem pretty worried about something." she sighed deeply and leant back in her chair.

"I . . . I am worried about the Peleds. Last night Leo emailed them the film of her performance but we have had no reply. She tried phoning them this morning before school to make sure that they had received it but there was no answer."

"And you have been obsessively trying them all day?" he raised an eyebrow at her and she folded her arms defiantly.

"Well it is now almost 11 in Tel Aviv and they have not responded or answered their phone it is not like them."

"So they haven't checked their email today, it's not a disaster. Maybe they're out for the day . . ."

"They are sixty years old Tony, where have they been since early in the morning until 11 at night?"

"Well I don't know, lots of places!" he shrugged nonchalantly.

"And they never sent her a good luck message. WE have not heard from them in four days, I am starting to get very concerned."

"Ziva, four days is not that long. It's not like you were speaking to them daily, you know how things mount up maybe they've been busy."

"You think I'm over-reacting?"

"I think that there's no need to be worried yet, maybe if you still haven't heard by tomorrow night then you should start asking questions but for now don't get too stressed about it. They've probably just forgotten or something." he smiled reassuringly at her until she sighed and leant forwards in her chair.

"Ok, maybe you are right."

"I am." he reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

"So," Ziva's voice suddenly changed and she stared up at him suggestively. "Are you coming over tonight?" she asked and placed her hand gently on his thigh. "We could out Zippy in with Leo, I am sure that would stop her . . . Interrupting us." she whispered and slid her fingers up his leg, causing him to tense slightly and glance around nervously.

"Ziva!" he hissed and tried to shuffle back slightly, she just chuckled throatily and slipped her hand round so her palm was gently stroking the inside of his thigh.

"Scared someone will see?" she teased as she finally stopped, her fingers practically touching his groin while her thumb gently stroked from side to side.

"Yes! Gibbs could appear at any moment! Can you imagine the slap? It would probably knock my head clean off!" he hissed at her causing her to laugh and slump back into her seat, taking her hand with her. Tony relaxed slightly and tried to regain some of his cockiness. "But I will definitely be there, you've got a lot to learn David, I'd best start teaching as soon as possible." Ziva raised her eyebrow and smiled seductively at him.

"Oh Tony . . ." she paused and looked him slowly up and down, "I doubt that there is much that you could teach _me_." she whispered seductively and fixed her deep brown eyes on his. Tony licked his lips nervously and stood up.

"Well you'll have to prove that tonight." he grinned and turned to walk back to his own desk. He was only half way across the bull pen when he stopped suddenly. "Oh CRAP!" he shouted causing Ziva to jump in surprise.

"What is it?" she asked and he turned around with an anguished expression.

"I . . .I have plans for tonight."

"Oh . . . Ok well. . ." Ziva tried to hide her disappointment but failed miserably.

"I can cancel them it doesn't matter I can do it later."

"What were your plans?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter." he said sheepishly and started to turn back around.

"Tony?" she asked sternly so he sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Ok, ok I'll tell you but don't laugh ok?"

"I promise."

"Andrew asked me to help him pick out wedding suits for him and the groomsmen because he said I have a better taste in fabric and cuts and stuff . . ." Ziva smirked quietly at him for a few moments.

"Well Tony I think that you should take your duties as Made of Honour seriously." she giggled slightly but then tried to quickly to regain her composure.

"Hey! You said you wouldn't laugh and I am NOT his maid of honour I'm just doing him a favour."

"Well I was under the impression that it was the maid of honour that helped choose out the wedding outfits . . "

"Yeah, with the bride!" Tony huffed and grumpily strode back to his own chair.

"Oh come on Tony don't sulk with me." Ziva rested her face on her hands and smiled sweetly at him.

"I'm not sulking!" he stared at her moodily for a few moments before suddenly snapping out of it and grinning. "It shouldn't take too long anyway, we were meant to be meeting the guys for a few drinks after anyway so we'll probably be done pretty early."

"Tony, if you have plans with your friends it is fine, you don't have to come over. You will have to get up early anyway, I thought you were playing football tomorrow morning?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." he sighed dejectedly.

"Come over after that ok?"

"Well . . . Alright." he sighed disappointedly.

"Tony, we have waited a long time for this, an extra night won't make a difference." she smiled across the bull pen at him until he finally was convinced and grudgingly smiled back.

That night Ziva was finishing wrapping up the present she had bought for Zach's birthday the next day. She stuck on the bow and placed the package next to the bottle of wine she had bought for his parents. They would need it after a party for 12 Zippy's. She couldn't imagine having one herself, she thought about it momentarily but then shivered slightly, no, Zippy would have to make do with small family birthday parties until she was at least . . . 22. She sat down on her bed and picked up her phone one more time and rang the Peleds. There was still no answer, she glanced at her watch and worked out that it was almost 7 in the morning there. They had been put all day and all night at least. She bit her lip nervously and placed the phone down next to her. What could have happened to them? She closed her eyes and remembered what Tony had said, there could be any number of reasons. Perhaps they were visiting friends out of town and had forgotten to mention it. Or maybe they had mentioned it an Leo had been so distracted with her concert she forgot to pass on the message. Perhaps their phone line was broken and therefore they had no internet either, there was no need for her to immediately jump to the worst case scenario. It was only a few days, no need to worry yet. She calmed down considerably and lay down in her bed, thinking about what she was going to do the next day.

She woke up to find it was the hottest day of the year so far. It was only half past seven and already the humid heat was oppressive. She stared out at the blazing sun as she waited for the kettle to boil, there was a large clatter from the bedroom and a few seconds late Zippy threw the door open and bounded out.

"_Is it time to go yet?"_ she shouted as she ran towards Ziva.

"_No, not yet the party's not for a few hours Zippy." s_he replied but the little girl was unaffected and continued running round the flat, excited to be going to her first birthday party. Ziva sighed and poured out her coffee, taking a big sip she closed her eyes and thought it was going to be a long morning.

After trying to curtail Zippy's excitement Ziva had given up and taken her out to run around the park for a while, hoping to tire her out. It didn't really work, succeeding only in making them both sticky and sweaty. Now however they were both freshly showered and Zippy was sitting already to go in her brand new party dress. Ziva had finally convinced her that sitting still to keep her lovely dress nice was the best idea so the little girl was quietly flicking through one of her books while Ziva tried to decide what to wear. Since the fire she hadn't really built up a new wardrobe, basically she just had work clothes which seemed a bit heavy and formal for today. Her only other options were the few items Leo had chosen for her, most of which she wasn't sure on. She searched through her cupboard and pulled out a vibrant orange halter necked sundress. She bit her lip and examined it for a while before finally pulling it over her head. Examining herself in the mirror she decided that the dress was definitely her best outfit for today and now it was on she actually rather liked it. The bright colour offset her olive skin nicely and gave the impression of a healthy glow. Her hair however, was crazy. The humidity had caused it to explode into a mass of frizzy curls towering high above her head. She sighed and twisted it into a bun, securing it with a pin. It was the best she could do, she was just nipping in to drop off Zippy anyway.

Once she had dropped Zippy off at her party Ziva was driving home when she stopped at traffic lights. She had a little time to kill before her viewing in the afternoon. Maybe she should go and see how Tony's game went? She thought about it while she waited for the lights to change and once they did she suddenly switched her indicators and headed off on the other direction, towards his flat.

She stood outside his door, suddenly nervous. She waited for what felt like several minutes until she worked up the courage to raise her hand and knock on the door. A few seconds later the door swung open revealing Tony standing in his boxer shorts and rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

"Hey!" he said in surprise. "I was just about to phone you." he exclaimed and stepped aside to let her in. She passed him wordlessly and strode into the centre of the room. He frowned at her and swung the door shut. "You ok Ziva?" she walked a little further, stepping out of her sandals as she did so, before spinning around slowly to face him. She reached out and pulled out her pin, letting it drop to the ground with a clatter which echoed around the otherwise silent room. Her wild hair fell against her shoulders, the dark curls as out of control as when he had first met her all those years ago. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter a word she bent down and picked up the hem of her dress, pulling it painfully slowly up her body. Inch by inch she revealed her perfect body, her skin so tanned, her muscles so toned, her breasts so pert and smooth. Finally she pulled the garment over her head and dropped it next to the pin. She stood before him in nothing but a pair of plain white cotton pants. He stood transfixed, his mouth dry, never had practical underwear looked so sexy. His eyes roamed all over her, hungrily taking in every piece of her beautiful figure. Finally he met her gaze, they stared at each other silently for a few seconds until he finally regained the ability to move. He took a step towards her but as he did so she took one back. He tried again but she did the same thing and they both stopped again. She raised and eye brow playfully and suddenly turned and started running towards his bedroom.

"Hey!" Tony yelled and dropped his towel before sprinting desperately after her.

* * *

**I'm afraid that this chapter's going to be a bit of a cliffhanger for quite a while. In a couple of days I'm going off to work abroad for summer and (hopefully) practice my language skills so won't have enough computer access to updtate . . . until September! I wasn't intending on leaving it at this stage but things have been a bit mental just now and I've been moving around alot so I have kind of run out of time**!** Anyway, thanks for all your support and reviews! I hope you all have a fab summer and hopefully you'll all be excited to read the next chapter in mid - late September! (Not exactly sure when I'll be back!) xxxxxxxxxxx**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


	40. Chapter 40

Hello hello i'm back earlier than expected! hope everyone had a lovely summer. This bit's a bit smutty but hey ho about time i think! been ages since i wrote smut it has taken me like the whole evening to do it, i could not just slip back into it lol abyway ket me know what you think!

* * *

Ziva sprinted into Tony's bedroom before suddenly stopping and spinning around when she reached the bed. She squealed as Tony crashed into her, sending her flying back onto the bed where she bounced gently for a few seconds. She propped herself up on her elbows and slowly ran her eyes up and down Tony's naked body and then raised her eyebrow playfully.

"Well, someone is keen." Tony grinned down at her eagerly.

"Ya think?" he sprung down on top of her, "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this?" he slipped his arms under her own as she wrapped them around his neck. She laughed while his fingers buried themselves inside her dark curls.

"I can imagine." She pulled him down to meet her lips and sighed contentedly when they met, it was finally happening, Their kiss was slow and gentle at first but soon morphed into a passionate embrace as their lips caressed each other. Ziva's fingers slid through his damp hair, grazing his scalp gently while firmly holding his head close. Her legs slid up and wrapped themselves around his waist, feet locking together just above his ass. However, Tony could not fully surrender himself, he couldn't ignore the fact that his legs were still hanging uncomfortably off the edge of the bed. He slid his arms further underneath her and tried to shuffle her up the bed surreptitiously. However, his attempt to move furtively was not a success and Ziva could feel him wriggling and squirming against her. She frowned and pushed him back slightly.

"Tony . . . What are you doing?" She asked warily prompting him to give up and slide off the bed onto his knees.

"I was trying to move you up the bed, I was practically falling off." he admitted sheepishly and she started laughing and sat up.

"Oh thank god! I thought you just had a strange . . . Technique."

"Oh, I can assure you that was not my technique," he stood up and reached for her underwear, staring her in the eyes as he tugged them down her legs. "I'll show you my technique." he grinned cockily as he crawled into the middle of his bed but before he could push her back onto the mattress he found himself flipped onto his own back with Ziva staring down at him.

"No Tony, I think I will show you _my_ technique." She whispered huskily before leaning down and pressing a hot, wet kiss against his lips. He groaned and ran his hands along the smooth, olive skin of her back until he reached her ass and squeezed it gently.

"I can live with that." he mumbled almost incomprehensively.

"Good." she murmured as her lips left his and began to drift across his face, leaving a trail of soft kisses across his chin and down onto his neck. She sucked and licked her way around to his ear which she nibbled playfully before slipping down his body. He gasped quietly as he felt her soft stomach slide across his hardening length but she only moved momentarily, pausing to give his chest some attention on her way down. Her hot breath brushed through his chest hair as she ran her face against his skin, scattering kisses as she went. He moaned and grabbed a handful of her hair when she reached one of his nipples and sucked it forcefully before closing her teeth around it and tugging roughly. "Like that?" she whispered before moving further down his body.

"Oh yeah." he replied softly as she slipped closer and closer to his most sensitive part, her nose sliding down his stomach until he could feel her breath against him. She didn't stop though, choosing instead to by-pass it and moved onto the tops of his thigh instead. She ran her fingers across the skin and then followed them with her lips, peppering his leg with wet kisses. Her hair was tickling him tortuously and eventually he wrapped it around his fingers and pulled gently.

"Ziva." he groaned impatiently and she looked up at him, smiling smugly.

"Well you did not last very long." she raised her eyebrows and sat up, shifting until she was straddling his thighs. "I am not sure it is time yet, I do not know if I am ready for you." she leant forward to kiss him, forcing her tongue into his mouth as she slid herself up his legs and across his length. He gasped as he felt her wetness coat him as she rubbed slowly against him. He grabbed her hips.

"You're ready." he growled against her lips and she straightened up, placing her hands on his stomach to steady herself as she stared down at him.

"Hmm perhaps you are right." she purred and began to slip back along him but paused and gasped herself when his head came into contact with her clit. "Ohh." she sighed and then continued to rub herself up and down.

"Ziva come on!" Tony let out a strangled cry causing her to finally raise herself up and take him in her hand, holding him steady as she slipped down onto him. She smiled and closed her eyes for a few seconds, giving herself time to adjust to him while Tony squeezed her hips tight, leaving angry red fingerprints on her skin. Finally she began to move, slowly rolling against him in circles, starting off big and slow and becoming increasingly smaller, faster and more urgent. "Oh god Ziva." Tony moaned and started running his hands up her sides, caressing her skin until he reached her breasts. He squeezed them gently and then tugged her nipples gently, she groaned and increased her speed.

"Tony!" she gasped and leant forwards, planting her hands on the headboard to allow her to thrust more forcefully. Tony stared up at her, she was just inches above him, her hair dangling down creating a curtain around them, cloaking them in a romantically dim light. The great pools of chocolate looking back at him were starting to glaze over and soon her eyes slipped shut as she began to moan unintelligibly. Tony sat up slightly and leant to towards her breasts which were so temptingly within reach. He grabbed one roughly in his mouth and began sucking and swirling his tongue around it while his thumb flicked the nipple of the other. "Ohhh . . . Tony yes." Ziva shouted as he slid his other hand around her back, running his fingers through the fine layer of sweat appearing on her skin. Tony couldn't hold his position for long and soon dropped back against the pillows just as Ziva began to lose her grip on the bed. She tried to straighten up but instead Tony grabbed her face and pulled her down to kiss her urgently, rolling his tongue messily around hers as she continued to thrust. He began to meet her thrusts and soon her moans were becoming louder and louder until eventually he abandoned her lips and wrapped his arms around her tightly, forcing her flat against his chest. She panted heavily in his ear as he picked up his pace, pumping hard and fast into her until she had no choice but to stop her own movements. Ziva held onto him tightly and bit down on his shoulder, trying to stifle her screams but they still escaped and bounced around the room. Soon Ziva felt herself reaching the edge and she struggled to straighten up. "I am coming." she grunted as she pulled herself out of Tony's arms, pushing her hands against his chest until she was leaning over him. She started up her own thrusts again, almost violently as she rode towards her goal. Tony stared at her, she looked amazing; her face was glistening, her fringe stuck to her forehead, her eyes were closed in concentration and her lips were parted slightly allowing her loud moans to spill out.

"Ziva!" he gasped as he felt himself nearing the edge too, he reached down between them to rub her and help her over first. It was the final push she needed and she suddenly let out a piercing scream and through her head back, her hair flying over her head and cascading down until it brushed against his knees. He felt her contracting around him, so hot and tight, and soon he was following her, screaming her name as he came.

Ziva slid down until she was lying across his chest again, panting softly as she tried to catch her breath. Tony rubbed her back gently as they lay recovering, moaning occasionally as Ziva continued to slowly roll her hips around. Eventually Ziva struggled to reach up and kiss him, placing a hand tenderly on his cheek before rolling off to the side, leaving one of her legs between his and an arm casually flung across his chest.

"Well, was that the way you imagined it would be?" she asked suddenly, Tony started slightly and then turned to grin at her.

"Sweet cheeks, with us I imagined it in _everyway._"

"Everyway?" Ziva raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Oh yeah, we have a lot of experimenting to do. Incidentally just out of interest, exactly how flexible are you?" he asked suggestively and she laughed and leant in to kiss him again.

"Oh I am very supple." she whispered against his lips. They lay quietly together for a few more minutes before Ziva suddenly started to get up. "I have to go now."

"What already? No, just stay a little bit longer Zippy will be fine for ages at that party." he reached out and grabbed her to pull her back into bed but somehow instead of dragging her back into his arms he ended up pinned on his front with Ziva lying along his back. Never try and out manoeuvre the ninja, he should have known.

"I know," she murmured and kissed hiss neck softly. "I have to go and view a house."

"A house?"

"Yes a house."

"Where is it?"

"Not very far from my flat."

"Whoa that must be pricey." he remarked into his pillow.

"I can afford it." She replied firmly but didn't elaborate.

"Well then Miss Moneybags you must be able to afford a few more minutes in bed with me?" Ziva chuckled and nuzzled her face against his ear.

"No, I have to go." Tony moaned grumpily but then asked,

"What's it like?"

"Oh it seems very nice on the internet, very bright and it has a garden."

"Very good." he mumbled as Ziva ran her hands up and down his arms, dragging her fingers across his warm skin.

"Ok, well maybe you could come over tonight, I will phone you when we are home. I really have to go now." she sighed reluctantly but before she had a chance to move Tony spoke again.

"This house, is it big?" he asked cautiously.

"It is big enough for us."

"Do you think that maybe . . . Maybe it has room for one more?" He asked quietly, keeping his face buried in the pillows. Ziva sat up slowly and stared down at him.

"Tony, are you asking to move in with us?" he shifted underneath her so she raised herself up to let him roll over before settling back down on his stomach.

"Yeah, yeah I am. I miss you. I miss you all." He couldn't look her in the eyes as he spoke, preferring to avoid her questioning gaze.

"But Tony it is too soon, look at what happened before . . ."

"Yeah but that was because we were . . . We hadn't really defined our relationship and now we have. I loved living with you and the girls, it gave me a purpose, it showed me that I am ready for a new life and that I want it badly. I just, I can't go back to living my old life it's so . . . Empty." Ziva licked her lips and then pursed them in thought. "Can you imagine suddenly going back to living alone without the girls, don't you miss me?" Ziva nodded slowly.

"Well yes I miss you and so do the girls but we have only just become a . . . couple I do not think that moving in together again so fast is the best thing to do."

"Ziva," Tony reached out and took her hands, "We have been partners for five years, you are my _best _friend, no one knows me better than you and well I like to think that I know you pretty well. Living apart for a few months isn't going to change anything, you already know all my deepest, darkest secrets and all of my annoying habits just like I know yours."

"Tony . . ."

"Ziva, I can't keep going like this, I get up and I'm alone, I come home and there's no one here, I have no one to look after, no one to drive around, no one to yell at because they used my Armani tie as a hammock for a troll covered in ketchup or they used my credit card to pay for their friends to go to the cinema. I never would have thought that I need that but I do. It's going to be difficult and I know you won't like to admit it Ziva but you will need me. I know because I need you." he rushed to finish his speech and then stared nervously at her while she considered what he had said. She began to nod slowly.

"Ok, ok yes I want you to move in with us, you are right." she practically whispered and squeezed his hands tightly. Tony immediately flew up and flung his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She grabbed onto him and pulled his head back from her chest so that she could kiss him. She tugged his hair roughly and ran her thumbs down his cheeks as she sank slowly between his knees until they were eyelevel. She slipped one arm around his shoulders while she kept her other hand cupped around his face and gazed at him happily for a few moments before suddenly frowning playfully, "I do not have any annoying habits." Tony grinned and leant forward, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Of course not, I could never put up with someone who picks their nails, or never clears out the plug after her shower or snores like a walrus or . . ."

"Well it is lucky that I do not do any of those things then yes?" Ziva's eyes twinkled as she leant in to press one more swift kiss against his cheek and then disentangled herself from him, "Come on, we really have to go now or we will be late. It is about fifteen minutes away and my appointment is at two."

"Alright I'm coming." He rolled off the bed and pulled out a pair of boxers and then turned to watch Ziva hunting for her underwear.

"We could go out for lunch after we view the house, to discuss our options?" he suggested as he pulled on his boxers. Ziva turned and grinned at him.

"Well, you sound like a grown up. Who would have thought it, Tony DiNozzo discussing his property options." she teased as she pulled on her pants and then left the room to find her dress. Tony pulled on his trousers and grabbed a shirt before following her.

"Hey I'm a serious guy these days, y'know property, the state of our school system, how we're going to pay for college all these things are just constantly running through my mind." he shrugged his shirt on and grinned cheesily at her.

"Ah ha of course and here was me thinking you spent most of your day trying to see down my shirt."

"How wrong you were, you should be ashamed of yourself." he shook his head solemnly and stepped towards her. "Everyone knows I'm an ass man." he lunged forward and grabbed hers tightly, pulling her close. She giggled and grabbed his shirt..

"Ah of course so you have no interest in my shirt?"

"Well . . . I wouldn't say no interest . . ."

"Mmmmmm," she rolled her eyes and tried to step back but he kept a firm grip on her.

"So lunch?" he asked again but she shook her head.

"No we have to go and get Zippy, there will be barbeque food there though if you're hungry. I will get to introduce my . . ." Ziva paused for a moment and eyed Tony up before continuing. "My boyfriend to the other parents."

"Hello there, I'm Ziva's boyfriend, this is my girlfriend Ziva." Tony put on a Sean Connery-esque accent but then frowned. "Do you think we are to old to be boyfriend and girlfriend, I don't think we're young enough to carry it off." Ziva scoffed at him,

"Well we are not married enough to be husband and wife what else are we meant to say."

"Whoa! Husband and wife, slow down Zi, we haven't even moved in yet!" he gasped in mock horror.

"HA! You are busy telling me how much you have changed and are ready to move on and yet you are still crippled by your fear of commitment." Ziva shook her head, smiling slightly at him as they started to stroll towards the door.

"Hey, I never said I was a totally reformed character." he said and draped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her lightly.


	41. Chapter 41

**hi . . . ok so it's been a bit of a while since i wrote anything but i actually almost died last semester under my work load, not fun! anyways thought i'd better write a chap before this new semester starts :-( and i get buried alive under books and essays and presentations and letters from the bank saying i have no money! i wrote this between two and half three in the morning it probs isn't great sorry! let me know what you think xxxxx**

* * *

"Just think, all we'd need to do is throw up a black out blind on that skylight and then we could have a perfect movie room." Tony sighed wistfully as they drove away from the house. "I can see it already."

"Tony, I cannot believe that is your first thought about the house, someone has put a lot of effort into turning that attic into a lovely bedroom and you want to immediately stuff it full of dvds!" Ziva rolled her eyes at him.

"Hey it wasn't my _first_ thought ok?"

"So what was your first one?"

"I thought, gee what a great garden for Zippy to play in." Tony smirked at her, "See bet you feel guilty for thinking I was being totally self centred now." Ziva opened her mouth to protest but he continued, "And then when we went right to the ground floor to the room with the French doors into the garden I thought oh wow this would be a perfect bedroom for us. Can you imagine waking up with the sunlight streaming through the windows and the birds singing?" he glanced round and grinned at her cheesily before turning his eyes back to the road.

"Well I did think that for a moment but it's too far away from the other bedrooms what if something happens to Zippy during the night?"

"We might not get interrupted for once!" Ziva laughed and slapped his arm gently.

"Maybe Leo could have it for her room." She suggested causing Tony to snort in disbelief.

"WHAT? Are you serious?"

"Why not, it is a lovely room I am sure that she would like it."

"Oh I bet she would, think about it for a moment are you suggesting we give a teenager her own _door_ in and out of the house? Do you know what I would have given for my own door when I was her age?"

"OH come on Tony she is a sensible girl I am sure that she will not be nearly as challenging as you were."

"Oh really? Do I need to remind you of the belly piercing incident?" Ziva stared at him for a moment.

"Ok, you are right she will have to have another room." she paused and turned her head to look at him, "So . . . You like the house then?"

"Yeah, I love the house I think that it's perfect." Ziva smiled and reached out to squeeze his thigh,

"Good, so do I." They lapsed into silence for a few moments before Tony cleared his throat.

"You know, I was thinking that we should probably . . . Tell everyone about us before we move into a house we bought together."

"You're right we should, we can do it on Monday at work."

"I think that we should let Gibbs know first, like before Monday."

"So he can have a chance to calm down before work?" Ziva replied jokingly, a small smile playing around her lips.

"Yeah, exactly! Laugh away but he slaps me a lot harder than he does you and I don't think you'll need many guesses to decide which one of us is going to get them blame for this!"

"Do you want me to tell him?" Tony shook his head,

"No, I want to do it."

"Alright well, go after dinner so he can have all of Sunday to calm down and stop wanting to knock your head clean off."

"Very funny." Tony replied flatly.

Later that evening Tony was sitting in his car outside Gibbs' house. He has stopped some time ago but was still gripping the steering wheel tightly as though toying with the idea of just driving off again and sending Ziva to do this. Coming himself had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Maybe he could just get a new job and then never have to face Gibbs to tell him that he was not only dating his co-worker but actually shacking up with her. His phone bleeped so he reached into his pocket and pulled it out.

"**Good luck! Z Xx" **he gulped, he'd need it.

Gibbs was just about to head back down into his basement when he noticed a car through the panes of glass in his front door. He frowned and walked into the living room to get a better look. He saw Tony sitting stiffly in his car, one hand on his steering wheel and the other holding his phone. He watched as the other man let his hands drop to his lap while he leant his head back heavily against his seat. Gibbs shook his head and went through to the kitchen to get two beers out of the fridge.

Tony finally managed to work up the courage to get out of the car and walked slowly towards the house. He stopped and took a deep breath when he reached the door before pushing it open and stepping into the hall.

"Gibbs?" he called as he headed towards the basement door.

"In here." Gibbs replied from the living room so Tony turned around and headed towards it.

"Hi" he greeted his boss nervously and then noticed the full bottle of cold beer on the coffee table. "Oh, you expecting someone?"

"You." Gibbs replied simply and took a swig out of his own bottle. Tony stood wordlessly and stared questioningly at him for a few moments.

"But . . ." he stopped and shook his head, Gibbs would never give away how he managed to stay one step ahead of the game.

"You come here for a reason, DiNozzo?" The silence was broken by Gibbs' gruff question.

"Uh, yeah I have a reason. A big reason." Tony stepped forward and then paused, placing his hands on his hips. "You see the thing is . . . About your rules." he fell silent again, desperately trying to come up with the best explanation. He should have written down a speech or something. "Well not about your rules, about me and Ziva, we . . . well you know we were kinda living together for a while, when her flat burnt down well we want to do that again." he finished and took a deep breath while Gibbs frowned at him. "What I'm trying to say is that me and Ziva are together now, like a couple.! He glanced up at his boss who was slowly standing up. "Just since like yesterday, not before we've only been officially a couple for about a day!" He gasped out fearfully as Gibbs started walking towards him, Tony instinctively took a step back. "And it's proper, we're buying a house together for us and the girls and then we're going to adopt . . . we're not just screwing around here." He rattled off just as a grim faced Gibbs reached him and started to raise his hand. Tony squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. "I really love her I won't mess . . ." but instead of a hard slap to the back of the head he felt a hand land on his shoulder and grip it tightly.

"Congratulations."

". . . it up and we'll be, wait . . . Congratu-what?" he relaxed and opened his eyes to find Gibbs practically smiling at him.

"What did you expect me to say?" he asked as he removed his hand and headed back towards the sofa.

"Well . . . not that." Tony watched as his boss sat down. "Didn't really expect you to say anything, kinda thought I'd be stretchered out of here."

"Why?"

"Cause we broke a rule."

"'Never date a co-worker', been on a date?"

"No."

"No rule breaking then." Tony chuckled and flopped down next to him.

"If I'd known that it would have been cool to sleep with her as long as I didn't take her out then this would have happened a long . . ."

"Don't push it DiNozzo."

Ziva was lying n the sofa bed reading but looked up when she heard Tony return,

"Well, I was about to start ringing round hospitals." she smiled at him and put down her book. "How did it go?"

"Great." he replied as he pulled off his shoes. "He said _congratulations _and everything."

"Did he?" Ziva gasped in surprise as Tony walked towards her.

"Yep," He crawled onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "He knows we're the real deal." he kissed her gently and then leant his forehead against hers and sighed.

"You are relieved now that he knows."

"Yeah, but to be honest I think he already knew. He didn't seem surprised." Ziva sighed and pushed him onto his back, snuggling up against his chest.

"Tony, what are we going to do about work? We will not be able to stay on the same team." she said quietly.

"I know." Tony ran his fingers through her hair, "Gibbs says we should speak to the director on Monday. I was so busy worrying about Gibbs I didn't think about the big picture."

"It will be a big change for all of us." she whispered thoughtfully.

"Yeah . . . but it'll be worth it right?" he replied tentatively. Ziva propped herself up on her elbows and reached out to stroke his cheek.

"Of course it will be." she laughed and pressed her lips against his, she had just started slipping her tongue into his mouth when he suddenly pulled back.

"I just realised something, I told Gibbs something I haven't told you yet."

"What?" she furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I love you." He said simply and reached up to brush some of her hair away so he could get a better view of her face. She smiled bashfully and dropped her eyes to the bed for a few seconds before flashing them back up to meet his.

"I love you too." Tony grinned and lunged towards her flipping her onto her back, scattering kisses all over her face and neck.

"This has been like the best day of my life." he sighed against her throat.

"Well, maybe we can make it even better." Ziva said huskily as she dragged his face up and began running her fingers through his hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him gently towards her and into a deep kiss. He moaned when she nibbled his lip and began spreading her legs so that he slipped between them and pushed her deeper into the mattress.

"Ziva…" he groaned against her lips and ran his hand down her side and up under her vest, digging his fingers into her warm flesh. She was just about to flip him over when the phone rang. "Leave it." Tony rasped into her ear.

"I can't" she sighed and slipped out from underneath him. "Hello?"

"_Ziva? Is that you?"_

"_Mrs Peled? Where are you are you alright?"_

"_No, no I'm not alright . . . I am at my sister's house."_

"_Why? What happened?"_

"_I am sorry I phoned so late, I didn't want the girls to be be around when I told you this."_ the old woman's voice suddenly cracked as she began to sob loudly down the phone.

"_What's wrong?"_ Ziva asked, her stomach churning with concern.

"_It's my husband, my husband is dead!_" she wailed loudly_ "Our son killed him!" she choked out before descending into another fit of heart wrenching sobs._


	42. Chapter 42

"Oh I'm so sorry, how did it happen? When? Are you safe?" Ziva started firing off questions before forcing herself to stop and give the other woman a chance to reply. After a few moments of sobs Mrs Peled finally managed to compose herself to reply.

"It started when we said that we'd support your case." she paused and took in a deep and laboured breath, "We got phone calls in the middle of the night but they never said a word, sometimes we heard breathing sometimes not. We got threatening letters, all our flowers were killed with bleach, a, a, a, a brick was thrown through our window and then . . ." she sobbed quietly. " and then three nights ago we were in bed but we couldn't sleep, we kept thinking there would be another phonecall but there wasn't instead they had come to our home. Jakob heard something and he got out of bed to go and see what it was and went down stairs. And then I heard him shout and . . ." she paused again and took a long, deep breath as she tried to compose herself enough to finish her story. "So I ran to see what had happened, I could smell smoke and then . . . Someone had posted a burning package through our door, there was a fire and Jakob was trying to put it out but was getting bigger and bigger, it was so big and so hot there must have been petrol or something I don't know I don't know/ He was screaming at me GET OUT GET OUT and I started to run down the stairs, I was just about there when he . . . he collapsed on the floor. I managed to drag him out the other door because he landed on a rug so I could pull it. We were in the garden and I screamed and screamed and screamed until our neighbours came outside. I was shouting at Jakob YOU FOOL YOU FOOL YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE HOUSE BURN but then he said that if he had left it alone I would have been trapped upstairs. Then he stopped talking." She wailed loudly, "The last words I said to him were angry ones, I called him a fool!" she wept uncontrollably down the phone while Ziva tried to take it all in. Finally she managed to attempt some words of comfort,

"They weren't angry words, the were loving ones. You were just upset that he had put himself in danger he will understand that." she said soothingly while Mrs Peled sniffed.

"I hope so."

"You're sure it was Omri?"

"Of course it was, who else would want to do this to us? That pig! How could he be of our flesh? Jakob and I created a monster how is that possible? What did we do to deserve such a son? One that would kill us?" She spat angrily down the phone, her heart broken weeping replaced by a fierce steel which pierced Ziva's ears.

"Sometimes people are just bad, there's nothing anyone could do to change Omri." Ziva thought of all the evil people she had crossed paths with and firmly believed her words. The older woman was silent for a few moments, as though reflecting on Ziva's assertion but soon she broke out into a fresh sob.

"Now I have nothing, my home is gone, my son is gone, my husband! My husband is all alone! I had to leave him behind! He is not even buried it should not be this way! He is all alone just like me!"

"You are not alone, you have your grandchildren. They are here safe and wanting to see you again, I will come and get you."

"You will?"

"Of course I will. They need you in their lives, I will come as soon as possible."

"But for how long? What will I do, I have nothing left it's all gone up in flames and smoke and . . ."

"We will work something out, try not to worry I will come tomorrow."

"Ok. Ok tomorrow, ok."

"I will see you soon ok, we are thinking of you."

"Thank you." They hung up and Ziva let out a long sigh.

"Well, what's happening? It didn't sound like a happy conversation." Tony had sat up and was leaning against the back of the sofa. Ziva let out a long sigh and sat back next to him.

"It is not good news."

Once she had regaled the sad story he whistled slowly. "Wow. What a mess."

"I know, it just keeps getting worse. Just when I think that we are one step further along the road, that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and then . . . something like this happens and it just. It feels like it will never going to be over."

"Ziva, we will get there." he reached out and pulled her against him.

"Tony don't, I need to get ready to go." she moaned and tried to push him off.

"Not right now, you need to relax for a few minutes and y'know gather your thoughts." she sighed and relaxed against him.

"What are we going to do? I have just said that I will take her here, I have no room. I cannot just shove her into a hotel. And then what is she going to do in the long term? In fact, her house burnt down she probably does not even have her passport!"

"Well look at it this way, we need someone to watch Zippy while we're working. We are about to move into a house with plenty of room. I can see a solution to several problems right there and well, I'm sure you'll work out a way to get her into the country." Ziva sat up and stared at him in surprise.

"Did you just suggest that the girls' grandmother move in with us?"

"Uh . . . yeah."

"You realise that she's as close to a mother in-law as you'll ever get?"

"Look, all I see is that she needs somewhere to go and the girls' need someone to look after them it's win win!" he smiled at her.

"You are right, it is perfect."

"Yeah we'll squeeze her in somewhere for a while, we'll work something out." he rubbed her back gently as they lapsed into silence.

It was late afternoon local time when Ziva arrived in Tel Aviv. She was exhausted after her long journey on very little sleep but she immediately hired a car and set off to pick up Mrs Peled from her sister's house. She lived in a small town outside the city which meant over an hours drive but Ziva was glad of the extra time to brace herself to see the grieving woman. Although she had become more adept at dealing with emotions she still wasn't entirely comfortable with them. It had been hard enough to break the news to Leo that her grandad had died and now she had to face a bereft wife. She also had needed the time to work out what she was going to with the woman once she picked her up.

Ziva pulled up outside a pretty little house surrounded by olive trees which provided plenty of cool shade over the driveway. The front door opened and a short woman dressed in a sombre black dress appeared.

"Good evening, I'm Ziva I'm here to . . ."

"I know who you are and why you are here. Tzahala is in the living room." she snapped as Ziva approached the house.

"Oh, ok." Ziva replied, taken aback by the woman's hostile greeting. She reached the house and waited for the sister to lead her inside but instead she just stood there.

"All this started when you started sticking your nose into her family's business." she hissed at Ziva before stepping aside and pointing along the hallway. Ziva opened her mouth to reply but then decided against and walked towards the living room. Tzahala Peled was sitting in a chair by the window, staring silently out into the garden.

"You came." she said dully and turned when she heard Ziva enter the room.

"Yes, I said I would be here."

"Yes." an uncomfortable silence descended upon them.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" Ziva asked and the old woman let out a choked laugh.

"What else should I do? There is nothing left for me here now." she turned back around to look outside again. "If you had told me this time last week that I would ever leave Israel I would have laughed in your face." Tzahala sighed as Ziva walked towards her and placed her hand on the back of the woman's chair.

"You don't have to do this. You don't have to support us you can just stay out of it, it has already caused you so much pain." As soon as Ziva spoke the woman's head snapped around,

"I will be dead before he gets them." she spat furiously, the steely strength returning to her once more. Her face softened immediately. "Oh I'm sorry dear, this isn't your fault. You are all that stands between my girls and that pig."

"Well, your girls are waiting for you."

"Then what are we still here then?" The old woman smiled weakly and stood up. "Let's go."

The first ten minutes of their drive into Tel Aviv were spent in silence until Mrs Peled spoke.

"I have spoken to my Rabbi, Jakob will be buried tomorrow. I have not told anyone, I do not want to risk Omri showing up."

"Ok, when will we need to leave?"

"It is in the morning, but I would prefer to go alone. I don't want to be rude but if it is going to be a small funeral I would prefer it to be just . . . the two of us."

"Whatever you want is best." once more they lapsed into a heavy silence for the next few miles. When the city came into sight in the distance Mrs Peled finally spoke again.

"I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Where are we going right now?" Ziva pursed her lips and grasped her steering wheel.

"We are going to see my father."

Ziva paced around the dining room of her father's house, the door opened and his housemaid entered.

"Your father will be home soon, he says you and your guest are to stay here tonight."

"Oh, no I don't think so." Ziva said firmly.

"He insists." Ziva was about to argue again but Mrs Peled jumped in before her.

"I don't think that your father will take no for an answer do you?" Ziva frowned and then shook her head.

"Not if he knows that we need his help."

"Well then we shall stay." Mrs Peled folded her arms.

"I have prepared rooms for you, I will show you to them if you wish." the maid said.

"I can find my own way to my bedroom thank you." Ziva snapped in reply while Mrs Peled looked on.

"I think I might retire now dear, I don't think I'm in a condition to met Director David."

"No one is ever in a condition to meet him." Ziva replied causing the maid to smirk furtively.

"No probably not. Good night and good luck dear."

"Good night Mrs Peled." The old woman smiled gently.

"Oh come on Ziva, I think we are past that. My name is Tzahala." She stood up and left leaving Ziva standing alone in the room.

Another half an hour past until Eli David arrived home.

"Ziva, it has been to long." his lips briefly twitched into an almost smile before he settled down into a chair. "Sit, we will eat." Ziva hesitated momentarily before sitting down opposite her father. The door opened and the maid brought in dinner placing it in front of them. They began to eat in silence, bathed in the faint golden glow from a single lamp in the corner.

"Are you going to ask why I'm here?" Ziva put down her cutlery and stared at him.

"I already know why you're here." He replied without looking up.

"And why is that?"

"Because you want my help." this time he did look up and fixed her with a stern gaze. "You need to get the woman into America."

"Are you going to help me?"

"You are making a mistake Ziva."

"I don't expect you to agree with what I'm doing."

"You are throwing your life away."

"I am not. I'm doing the best think I have ever done on my life."

You are throwing away everything you have achieved to raise children in America!" Eli slammed his palm down on the table causing the cutlery and glassware to tinkle delicately. Ziva stared at him silently for a minute before replying.

"Maybe I don't consider the things I have done in the past as achievements."

"You should, they are all magnificent acts of bravery and patriotism. You should be proud of serving your country."

"If I continued to do so I would probably literally throw my life away. Would you rather I was dead instead of in America?" Eli dropped his cutlery and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Don't be so dramatic, you were never like this before you went there." Ziva pushed her chair back and stood up.

"I don't know why I came here, I should have known you would never help me." she started to walk out of the room.

"Ziva." Eli pulled a brown envelope out of his briefcase and held it up to her. "I have already sorted it." she stopped and turned around, staring at the envelope suspiciously.

"Oh." she eventually reached out and wrapped her fingers around it but Eli did not let go.

"You know, if you wanted this whole mess cleaned up it could be easily organised.

"What do you mean?"

"If you asked, the source of your problems could . . . disappear." she swallowed and shook her head.

"No." she said firmly.

"Why not? You wouldn't have thought twice before. By this time tomorrow it could be over."

"I want this done properly. I want to be able to look the girls in the eye, I don't want our relationship stained with the blood of their father, it doesn't matter what kind of man he is." Eli raised his eyebrows and shrugged, letting go of the envelope.

"Fine, do what you want." He went back to eating his dinner, as though he hadn't just offered to have a man killed. Zivva stood next to him and fingered the envelope gingerly.

"What's in here?"

"Everything you need. She even has residency, if anyone asks she's a cleaner at the embassy." Ziva smiled slightly and looked down at her father.

"Thank you papa."


End file.
